"     -LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIRT 


Received  ,190 

"", 
Accession  No.  .......  835.6  A.  •    Cla*s  No- 


THE  VINICULTURE 


CLARET 


A   TREATISE  ON    THE    MAKING,    MATURING,    AND 
KEEPING   OF  CLARET   WINES 


VISCOUNT     VILL^     MAIOR 


Translated  by  REV.  JOHN   I.   BLEASDALE,  D.  D 
Organic  Analyst  ^^  CFynlno-ist  &c 


SAN    FRANCISCO,  CAL 

PAYOT,    URHAM     &    CO.,    PUBLISHERS 
I  884 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1884, 

BY  J.  I   BLEASDALE, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


Printed  by  Geo   Spauldimj  &  Co. 
£li  Clay  Street. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  Gal.,  23d  June,  1884. 

ARPAD  HARASZTHY,  ESQUIRE,  President  of  the 
Viniculture^  Society  and  California  State 
Board  of  Viticultural  Commissioners : 

Dear  Sir — I  have  much  pleasure  in  dedi- 
cating to  you  the  translation  of  this,  treatise 
by  Viscount  Villa  Maior,  of  Portugal,  because 
at  the  present  time,  more  than  ever  before, 
accurate  and  minute  information  concerning 
absolutely  all  the  details  of  the  making,  treat- 
ing and  keeping  of  CLARET  is  required,  if  our 
vintners  are  to  compete  successfully  with  the 
higher  grade  of  French  red  wines,  which  will 
alone  in  future  be  sent  into  American  markets; 
and  because  of  your  untiring  life-labors  to 
place  the  wines  (especially  the  Clarets)  of  Cal- 
ifornia in  the  high  position  they  are  capable 
of  holding  among  the  wines  of  the  world;  and 
lastly,  because  a  seven  years'  residence  in 
Portugal,  and  a  five  years'  residence  here, 
enable  me  to  speak  with  confidence  of  their 
similarity  in  both  climate  and  soil,  and  the 
adaptability  of  the  practical  directions  of  this 
small  treatise  to  meet  present  requirements. 

Faithfully  yours, 

JOHN  I.  BLEASDALE, 

Organic  Chemist  and  CEnologist. 


83561 


TO  THE  READER, 


This  treatise,  in  twelve  short  chapters,  is 
here  offered  to  those  interested  in  CLiret  Wines. 
It  hardly  touches  on  white  wine,  the  object  of 
the  author — himself  one  of  the  most  renowned 
practical  wine  men  of  the  world  —  being  to 
teach  his  ignorant  countrymen  how  to  make 
a  wine  capable  of  competing  successfully  in 
the  English  markets,  not  more  than  26  British 
proof,  so  that  it  might  enter  English  marts 
under  the  same  tariff  as  French  red  wine. 

J.  I.  BLEASDALE. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  makers  of  wine  are  numerous  enough, 
but  few  make  it  well.  Yet  to  make  wine  well, 
is  not  a  matter  so  difficult  as  to  exceed  the  com- 
prehension of  ordinary  understandings. 

Beyond  all  doubt,  there  exist  in  Portugal  all 
the  requisite  conditions  for  the  producing  of 
numerous  distinct,  and  very  various  kinds  of 
wines,  the  major  part  of  which  are  capable  of 
acquiring  excellent  qualities,  and  of  constituting 
a  most  important  branch  of  commerce,  and  a 
great  increase  of  public  wealth.  But  it  is  also 
certain  that  beyond  the  generous  wines  of  the 
Douro  and  Madeira,  those  of  the  Bairrada  and 
some  of  the  Estremadura,  the  rest  have  but  a 
very  poor  show  for  exportation;  while  yet  they 
might  and  ought  to  hold  a  preponderance  in 
foreign  markets,  seeing  that  the  principal  wine- 
using  countries  demand  at  the  present  day, 
principally  genuine  wines,  moderately  alcoholic, 
nourishing,  and  fit  for  ordinary  drinking. 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

Our  export  business  in  this  branch  has  not 
yet  begun;  yet  it  is  just  from  it  that  we  ought 
to  derive  our  greatest  wealth;  because  it  is  just 
this  class  of  wines  which  we  can  produce  on 
the  greatest  scale,  and  ;>t  least  cost,  thus  being 
in  a  position  to  supply  them  cheap,  circumstan- 
ces conducible  to  the  extension  of  the  wine  in- 
dustry and  the  increase  of  profit. 

In  regard  to  this  kind  of  wines,  we  have  hith- 
erto contented  ourselves,  for  the  most  part, 
with  supplying  our  domestic  requirements  from 
year  to  year,  to  the  extent  that  at  the  arrival  of 
next  year's  vintage  hardly  any  remains  from 
the  preceding  year,  and  that  itself  so  badly 
made  that  but  little  of  it  reaches  the  end  of  the 
summer  without  having  commenced  to  show 
signs  of  decay.  On  this  account,  probably,  it 
has  not  found  its  way  into  commerce  for  expor- 
tation. 

It  certainly  is  not  due  to  tliw  natural  condi- 
tions of  our  viticultural  regions;  nor,  general!} 
speaking,  to  the  bad  quality  of  the  grapes  em- 
ployed in  making  our  wines  of  consumption,  lo 
which  we  can  attribute  the  imperfections  we 
find  in  them;  but  to  original  defects  in  the  mak- 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

ing,  and  the  little  or  no  care  bestowed  on  their 
keeping. 

With  the  view  of  rendering  some  assistance 
towards  the  improvement  of  our  pure  nutritious 
wines,  whether  for  home  consumption  or  export, 
I  am  writing  this  compendium  of  the  principal 
rules,  precepts,  and  principles  governing  the 
management,  etc.,  of  wines;  as  being  specially 
adapted  to  the  conditions  of  our  different  wine 
regions. 


GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS. 


Although  there  may  be  innumerable  varieties 
of  wines,  between  the  commonest  and  the  high- 
est class,  still  a  ivell  made  ivine  is  always  a  good 
wine,  within  the  limits  of  its  category. 

The  qualities  which  any  given  wine  should 
have,  to  entitle  it  to  be  considered  good,  in  its 
class,  stand  always  in  relation  to  the  nature  of 
that  wine.  Thus  the  qualities  of  a  good  green 
(vinho  verde)  wine,  no  matter  from  what  quarter 
of  Minho,  ought  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
qualities  of  good  ripe  wines  of  other  parts  of 
the  country;  and  for  the  same  reason,  in  order 
that  we  should  consider  good  a  wine  of  ordi- 
nary consumption,  we  should  not  compare  it 
with  generous  wines  of  a  superior  class.  Ab- 
solute equality  between  things,  as  well  as  be- 
tween men,  is  a  chimera. 

For  each  species  of  wine  there  ought  to  be  a 
perfect  type  to  which  all  of  that  class  should  be 
referred.  This  typical  wine  ought  to  be  the 
product  of  the  very  best  quality  of  grapes  grown 
in  the  district,  and  which  have  attained  the 
most  perfect  maturity;  made  with  all  care;  free 
from  the  impurities  which  might  endanger  its 


12  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

keeping  qualities,  and  finally  nursed  up  to  the 
highest  point  of  perfection  of  which  it  is  suscep- 
tible. 

All  good  wines,  in  the  order  to  which  they  be- 
long, are  pleasant  to  the  palate,  on  account  of 
their  peculiar  relish  and  perfume ;  to  the  sense 
of  smell  by  their  bouquet,  and  to  the  sight  by 
their  color  and  brilliancy  which  attest  their  pu- 
rity. All  should  be  easily  digested,  in  order  to 
be  healthy,  neither  prejudicing  the  health  nor 
the  reason,  when  used  in  moderation,  relatively 
to  their  nature. 

Many  are  the  kinds  and  varieties  of  wines 
which  we  can  make.  It  would  be  in  the  high- 
est degree  advantageous,  if  we  had  a  perfect 
and  definite  classification  and  differentiation  of 
them  all;  but  since  all  the  elements  indispensa- 
ble for  it  are  not  at  present  in  existence,  we 
can,  at  least  provisionally,  content  ourselves 
with  distributing  in  the  following  groups,  viz : 

1.  Ordinary  and  fine  table  wines,  both  for 
home  consumption  and  for  export. 

2.  Generous  and  alcoholic  wines  of  great  en- 
durance. 

3.  Liqueur  and  special  wines. 

4.  Wines  fit  only  for  distillation. 

Every  one  knows  that  the  recognized  species 
and  varieties  of  wines  depend  for  their  nature 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  13 

and  qualities  on  the  grapes  they  are  made  from, 
and  the  methods  followed  in  the  making. 

The  vineyardist  who  undertakes  to  direct  the 
making  of  his  own  wine,  before  all,  should  have 
a  clear  idea  of  the  exact  result  he  seeks  to  ob- 
tain; that  is  to  say,  of  the  character  of  wine  he 
hopes  to  obtain,  so  as  to  employ  the  material 
and  method  best  calculated  to  secure  the  object 
he  is  aiming  at.  To  make  wine  or  anything  else 
at  haphazard  and  empyrically,  is  to  act  irration- 
ally. And  so  likewise  lie  should  always  have 
before  his  mind  the  type  best  suited  to  the  na- 
ture of  his  produce,  and  to  know  thoroughly 
the  process  by  which  the  typical  wine  was  made. 

In  a  country  like  ours,  where  the  conditions 
for  making  wine  are  so  grand  and  so  various,  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  lay  down  fixed  and  in- 
variable rules  for  making  all  the  different  kinds 
of  wine,  which  may  be  rigorously  applied  in  the 
several  districts.  It  is  out  of  the  question,  in 
a  small  work  like  the  present,  that  I  should  de- 
scend to  all  particulars  which  are  interesting  to 
the  different  wine  districts.  I  shall  confine 
myself  to  a  description  of  general  methods,  ap- 
plicable to  the  great  majority  of  cases;  and 
chiefly  to  the  manufacture  of  generous  and  nu- 
tritious wines,  which  are  comprised  in  the  first 
group  as  stated  above ;  and  are  the  kinds  which 
can  have  and  ought  to  have  increased  consump- 


14  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

tion,  and  produce  a  more  extensive  and  lucra- 
tive export. 

In  the  making  of  all  kinds  of  wines,  there  are 
certain  general  rules  which  it  is  well  to  have  at 
one's  finger-ends,  applicable  to  all  cases;  and 
which,  once  fully  comprehended,  can  be  readily 
modified  and  applied  in  especial  cases,  which 
are  determined  by  the  condition  of  particular 
localities.  I  will  endeavor  to  expound  these 
rules,  and  show  their  raison  d'etre,  indicating, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  variations  and  exceptions 
necessary  to  be  attended  to  in  the  more  remark- 
able of  particular  cases. 


THE  VINTAGE. 


Wine-making  is  the  ultimate  aim  and  object  of 
viticulture,  the  multifarious  operations  of  which 
ought  to  be  directed  to  the  producing  of  good 
grapes,  such  as  alone  yield  good  wine.  I  have 
no  intention  at  present  of  entering  upon  vine- 
yard cultivation,  a  subject  large  enough  for  an 
entire  treatise;  and  so  I  will  leave  it  at  the  point 
when  the  grapes  arrive  at  a  state  of  ripeness  fit- 
ting them  to  make  wine,  for  here  a  true  indus- 
try commences  in  which  the  primary  material  is 
the  grape,  and  the  product  —  wine.  Upon  the 
vintage,  which  comprises  the  gathering  and 
preparation  of  the  grapes,  as  the  primary  ma- 
terial of  wine,  depends  in  a  great  degree  the 
result  of  the  wine  making,  which  is  the  essen- 
tial operation  of  this  industry. 

The  prudent  vineyardist,  before  commencing 
to  gather  his  grapes,  should  bear  in  mind  the 
various  conditions  essential  to  the  final  h-ippy 
result  of  his  operations.  The  first  bears  rela- 
tion to  the  actual  state  of  his  grapes;  the  sec- 
ond, to  the  state  of  the  weather;  and  the  third, 
to  the  state  of  his  whole  plant,  crushers,  press- 
es, fermenting  vats,  barrels,  and  all  other  uten- 


16  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

sils  requisite  for  a  wine  cellar.  Any  careless- 
ness about  any  of  these  indispensable  requisites 
may  give  rise  to  disturbances  and  inconveni- 
ences better  to  be  avoided. 

As  to  the  state  of  ripeness  in  which  the  grapes 
ought  to  be  in  order  to  yield  good  wine,  it  is 
agreed  on  all  hands  that  this  occurs  just  when 
the  grapes  have  attained  natural — that  is  to  say, 
perfect— ripeness.  But  no  uniform  indication 
of  it  can  be  given,  and  many  considerations 
have  to  be  taken  into  account  to  render  it  prac- 
tically useful. 

Bechamp  distinguishes  two  kinds  of  ripeness 
in  grapes — physiological  ripeness,  and  conven- 
tional ripeness. 

1.  Physiological  ripeness  is  complete  when 
the  seed  of  the  grape  is  ripe  enough  to  repro- 
duce its  kind.     This  ripeness  may  be  insuffi- 
cient for  the  production  of  certain  wines,  and 
even  to  give  to  all  the  highest  degree  of  perfec- 
tion of  which  they  are  capable. 

2.  Conventional  ripeness,  is  relative  to  the 
kinds  of,  and  the  quality  of,  wine  sought  to  be 
made  from  them;   and  in  this  way  we  can  draw 
a  line  between  grapes  properly  ripe  and  grapes 
excessively  and  overripe.     The  grape   is  well 
ripe  for  making  good  wine  when  the  principles 
contained  in  the  berry,  and  have  to  furnish  the 
must,  are  in  a  state  of  equilibrium  —  that  is, 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  17 

when  the  sugar  has  attained  the  maximum  of 
which  the  kind  under  consideration  is  suscepti- 
ble, without  the  berry  having  lost  its  plump- 
ness and  freshness. 

The  grape  is  overripe,  or  excessively  ripe, 
when  it  begins  to  show  that  it  is  passing  on  to 
become  a  raisin,  the  berries  losing  a  part  of 
their  natural  water.  From  this  loss  of  normal 
water  there  results  an  increase  of  sugar  in  the 
must,  and  a  modification  of  the  taste  of  the 
fruit. 

For  the  making  of  nearly  all  wines,  but  most 
especially  for  good  table  wines  and  food  wines 
(viiihos  de  pasto),  the  first  consideration  is  that 
the  grapes  be  naturally  ripe,  neither  over  nor 
underripe.  But  how  are  we  to  know  that  the 
grape  has  attained  to  this  state  ?  Simply  look- 
ing at  grapes,  whether  white  or  black,  is  not 
enough;  the  taste  for  those  who  have  competent 
knowledge  of  the  kinds,  and  long  practice,  is 
certainly  a  more  secure  criterion,  but  of  no  use 
to  those  who  need  our  advice.  To  such  we  can 
only  offer  the  advice,  touching  this  characteris- 
tic that  the}'  should  study  and  compare  the 
flavor  and  peculiar  sweetness  of  each  kind  at 
the  different  periods  of  their  ripening,  because 
in  nearly  all  of  them  there  are  appreciable  dif- 
ferences. As  for  the  rest,  in  the  well  ripe  grape, 
the  foot  stalk  and  all  the  woody  parts  of  the 


18  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

bunch  begin  to  shrivel,  and  to  assume  a  darker 
color,  and  the  berry  becomes  easily  detached 
from  the  peduncle,  leaving  attached  to  it  a  part 
of  the  cord  which  had  served  to  nourish  the 
fruit.  The  skin  of  the  grape  becomes  thinner 
and  more  delicate;  the  berry  on  the  under  side 
becomes  nearly  translucent,  and  appears  some- 
what soft;  sweetness  becomes  the  prevailing 
taste,  and  the  juice  is  thicker,  and  feels  sticky 
to  the  ringers,  like  sugar  syrup.  Analysis  forms 
the  most  reliable  ground  for  judging  when  grapes 
are  in  the  condition  to  form  the  best  wine ;  nev- 
ertheless, though  there  is  little  difficulty  about 
it,  still  but  few  are  able  to  avail  themselves  of 
its  advantages.  The  principal  ingredients  whose 
quantity  it  is  most  desirable  to  determine  in  the 
must,  are  the  sugar  and  acids,  because  from  their 
mutual  relations  we  may  deduce  with  much  prob- 
ability what  the  quality  of  the  wine  will  be.  A 
high  degree  of  saccharine  implies  a  low  degree 
of  acids,  and  musts  in  this  condition  will  yield 
fine  spirituous  wanes.  In  this  case  the  musts 
which  contain  more  than  25  per  cent,  of  sac- 
charine and  less  than  0.5  per  cent,  of  acid  are 
represented  by  monhydrated  sulphuric  acid 
S  O3,  H  O.  When  the  amount  of  acid  comes 
near  1  per  cent.,  the  quantity  of  sugar  is  almost 
always  below  15  per  cent.,  and  the  wines  re- 
sulting are  generally  weak,  cool,  and  but  little 
spirituous. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  19 

To  the  different  kinds  of  grapes  grown  in  the 
same  locality,  there  correspond,  when  in  a  state 
of  perfect  maturity,  different  quantities  of  sugar, 
of  acids,  and  of  other  principles  which  enter 
into  the  composition  of  their  juice;  quantities 
which,  however,  may  vary  within  certain  limits, 
according  as  the  seasons  were  more  or  less  fa- 
vorable. But  still  what  is  of  paramount  impor- 
tance to  the  vinyardist,  is  to  know  when  his 
grapes  are  ripe  enough  for  the  vintage — when 
their  sugar  has  attained  the  maximum  of  nat- 
urally ripe  grapes,  relatively  to  each  kind,  or  a 
general  average  over  all,  when  the  different 
sorts  are  not  separated.  When  the  sugar  ap- 
pears to  be  stationary  for  a  day  or  two.  the 
vintage  may  be  begun. 

The  plan  of  this  short  treatise  does  not  admit 
of  an  exposition  of  the  analytical  methods  men- 
tioned above,  nor  in  fact  does  the  greater  part 
of  the  vineyardists,  to  whom  I  dedicate  this 
work,  possess  the  knowledge  and  appliances 
requisite  for  conducting  analyses.  I  will 
merely  mention,  incidentally,  that  in  the  first 
part  of  his  "  Technologia  Rural,"  J.  I.  Far- 
reira  Lapa  has  described  the  instruments  and 
processes  indispensable  for  conducting  such 
analyses. 

There  is  at  present  in  common  use  a  special 
aerometer  called  r//m-o///< /'•/•,  yleuco-cenometer,  or 


20  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

simply  a  must  iveigher,  which  may,  when  more 
exact  methods  are  not  available,  serve  to  indi- 
cate the  approximate  saccharine  strength  of 
musts.  The  way  to  use  it  is  very  simple.  The 
grapes  whose  must  we  wish  to  test  are  pressed; 
the  mass  is  then  to  be  filtered  through  a  clean 
linen  or  cotton  cloth,  and  collected  in  a  tall 
vessel,  so  that  the  instrument  can  float  freely. 
If  the  temperature  of  the  air  and  must  exceed 
61°  F.,  it  is  necessary  to  place  the  vessel  in  cold 
water  till  this  temperature  is  attained;  then  in- 
troduce the  glucometer  into  the  fluid,  which 
will  sink  till  it  becomes  stationary.  The  exact 
degree  indicated  is  then  read  off,  which  (after 
having  subtracted  one  degree  for  each  twelve 
marked)  gives  the  quantity  of  alcohol  which  the 
sugar  contained  in  the  must  will  yield.  By 
making  this  experiment  with  the  same  kind  of 
grapes,  or  with  different  kinds-  mixed  in  the 
same  proportions,  for  a  few  successive  days,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  quantity  of  sugar  increases 
as  ripeness  progresses;  but,  on  arriving  at  a 
certain  point,  the  indicated  strength  will  appear 
stationary  on  two  or  more  successive  occasions, 
and  this  indicates  that  the  vintage  should  be- 
gin. 

The  mere  observation  of  the  density  by  Gay- 
Lussac's  densimeter,  which  gives  the  weight  of 
a  definite  volume  of  must,  furnishes  a  safe  indi- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  21 

cation  for  determining  the  richness  of  a  must. 
The  denser  the  must  the  more  sugar  is  there  in 
it.  The  indications  of  this  instrument  are  very 
important  in  fixing  the  time  of  the  vintage  and 
foreseeing  the  richness  of  the  wine  about  to  be 
made. 

In  a  vineyard  planted  with  one  kind  only,  and 
in  which  all  the  conditions  of  soil,  situation  and 
exposure  should  be  uniform,  one  would  say  that 
the  grapes  would  all  arrive  at  maturity  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  but  this  very  seldom  hap- 
pens. In  most  of  our  vineyards,  besides  the 
diversity  of  natural  conditions,  the  kinds  culti- 
vated are  very  various,  and  as  each  one  has  its 
own  period  of  perfect  maturity,  there  is  no  hope 
of  all  of  them  being  ready  for  gathering  at  the 
same  time.  It  is  necessary,  however,  in  the 
greater  number  of  seasons  to  make  the  vintage 
all  at  once,  and  to  this  end  we  have  to  select  a 
time  when  the  greatest  part  of  the  grapes  are 
quite  ripe,  hoping  that  if  some  part  of  them  be 
overripe  they  will  be  compensated  by  others 
not  fully  ripe,  to  the  extent  of  their  deficiency 
of  sugar. 

In  this  as  in  most  cases,  a  middle  course  is 
the  best.  If  we  gather  the  grapes  before  sub- 
stantially the  whole  of  them  are  naturally  ripe, 
we  incur  the  risk  of  having  a  weak,  acid,  or  a 
green,  rough  wine.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we 


22  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

wait  till  the  whole  have  gone  beyond  natural  ma- 
turity, we  may  reckon  upon  having  a  thick  must 
difficult  to  ferment,  and  one  which,  with  much 
care  even,  can  hardly  ever  be  properly  made, 
being  all  the  time  liable  to  a  succession  of 
changes  which  may  ruin  it.  Only  certain  special 
kinds  of  white  wine  require  the  grapes  to  be  ex- 
cessively ripe,  but  the  processes  of  making  them 
are  quite  different  from  those  employed  in  the 
making  of  genuine,  alimentary  (aliment icios) 
wines,  such  as  ought  chiefly  to  occupy  our  at- 
tention. In  the  case  of  making  dry  wine,  it  is 
far  better  to  gather  the  grapes  a  little  before 
full  natural  ripeness  than  allow  them  to  pass 
beyond  it.  The  reader  will  now  see  that  I  am 
not  treating  of  the  making  of  those  generous 
wines  which  are  made  after  the  pattern  of  those 
of  the  Douro,  in  which,  through  the  addition  of 
alcohol,  the  changes  liable  to  arise  out  of  the 
excess  of  sugar  in  the  presence  of  matters  lia- 
ble to  cause  fermentation,  are  effectually  pre- 
vented. 

Meteorological  conditions  of  the  atmosphere 
exercise  much  influence  upon  wine-making,  and 
deserve  attention  in  this  place  while  I  am  treat- 
ing of  the  vintage.  Clear,  dry,  and  moderately 
dry  weather  is  best  for  the  vintage.  Warmth 
favors  and  stimulates  fermentation;  cold  op- 
poses or  retards  it;  consequently  the  tempera- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  23 

ture  in  which  the  grapes  arrive  in  the  cellar  has 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  rise  and  progress  of 
fermentation.  Damp,  moist  air  has  a  not  less 
remarkable  influence.  In  vineyards  where  the 
kinds  of  grapes  do  not  form  much  sugar,  or 
when  they  are  prevented  from  attaining  to  per- 
fect ripeness,  dew,  damp  fogs  and  rain,  through 
damping  or  wetting  the  grapes,  tend  strongly  to 
dilute  the  must  and  to  leave  the  wine  watery 
and  flat.  On  this  account  all  gathering  should 
cease  as  long  as  the  dew  or  fog  or  rain  is  upon 
them.  In  vineyards,  however,  where  maturity 
is  excessive  rather  than  deficient,  the  moisture 
of  a  fog  does  no  harm.  In  gathering  grapes  for 
white  wine,  it  is  even  advantageous  to  gather  in 
foggy  weather,  since  experience  has  proved  that 
in  this  state  they  yield  wines  which  clear  them- 
selves more  easily  and  more  perfectly.  Rainy 
weather  is  always  prejudicial  during  the  vintage. 
The  judicious  and  experienced  vineyardist, 
bearing  in  mind  all  these  circumstances,  can 
lay  out  the  plan  of  his  vintage,  and  will  almost 
ahvays  carry  it  on  and  finish  it  in  good  condi- 
tion. In  view  of  the  state  of  maturity  of  his 
grapes,  and  of  the  meteorological  circumstances 
of  the  atmosphere,  he  can  direct  his  work  and 
foresee  the  results  of  his  crop.  When  grapes, 
as  often  happens,  ripen  very  irregularly,  some 
being  quite  ripe  and  others  far  from  it,  it  be- 


24  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

comes  desirable  to  make  partial  gatherings,  se- 
lecting only  the  ripest  first,  to  make  a  wine  of 
the  first  quality,  and  taking  the  rest  as  they 
ripen  and  making  a  second-class  wine.  These 
partial  vintages  often  become  very  advantage- 
ous, especially  to  those  who  have  knowledge 
and  experience  in  making  fine  wines. 

It  may,  and  it  nearly  always  does,  happen, 
owing  to  accidental  circumstances,  that  among 
the  grapes  of  the  same  vineyard,  we  meet  with 
more  or  less  which  are  unfit  for  making  good 
wine,  either  through  being  green  and  imper- 
fectly formed,  or  dry  and  shriveled,  or  rotten 
and  moldy,  or  injured  by  hail,  without  men- 
tioning those  affected  by  oidium.  Now,  it  is 
simply  indispensable  that  every  grape  found  af- 
fected in  any  of  the  above  ways  should  be  pick- 
ed out.  Not  one  of  them  must  ever  be  allowed 
to  enter  the  crushing  room  or  the  fermenting 
vat,  where  the  object  is  to  make  good  wine, 
under  pain  of  introducing  into  it  causes  of  cer- 
tain destruction,  which  will  show  themselves 
sooner  or  later.  Green  and  dry  grapes  impart 
to  wine  roughness  and  a  detestable  taste.  The 
rotten  and  mildewed,  and  all  such  as  have  un- 
dergone any  change,  over  and  above  the  bad 
taste  they  impart  to  the  wine,  bring  along  with 
them  into  it  the  germs  of  ulterior  fermentation, 
which  eventually  ruin  it.  The  only  good  to  be 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  25 

got  out  of  them  is  by  pressing  them  apart  and 
fermenting  their  must  separately  and  without 
the  skins,  and  so  obtaining  an  inferior  wine. 
Thus  the  mildew,  etc.,  will  be  arrested  in  the 
pomace. 

From  the  period  when  oidium  attacked  our 
vineyards,  and  when  we  had  to  employ  sulphur 
to  arrest  its  ravages,  it  has  happened  not  un- 
frequently  that  a  notable  portion  of  the  sulphur 
found  its  way  into  the  press-room,  which,  dur- 
ing fermentation,  gave  rise  to  sulphydric  gas, 
and  which  remained  in  the  wine,  communicating 
to  it  an  offensive  taste  and  the  smell  of  rotten 
eggs.  In  some  cases  this  trouble  may  be  avoid- 
ed when  the  grapes  are  well  formed  and  very 
saccharine,  by  subjecting  them  to  careful  wash- 
ing. I  advice,  when  such  a  washing  is  needed, 
to  proceed  as  follows:  In  a  huge  tub  full  of 
water,  which  is  to  be  frequently  renewed,  I 
cause  the  wicker  baskets  in  which  the  grapes 
are  brought  from  the  vineyard,  to  be  immersed 
and  carefully  shaken  about  for  a  few  minutes. 
The  sulphur  adhering  to  the  bunches  soon  washes 
off  and  falls  to  the  bottom  of  the  tub  through 
the  interstices  of  the  baskets.  Afterwards  they 
are  allowed  to  drain  for  awhile  and  lie  exposed 
to  the  air,  and  are  then  ready  for  the  press- 
room. Wine  so  made  never  gives  any  indica- 
tion of  sulphydric  acid  gas. 

2 


26  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

One  of  the  requisites  of  a  good  vintage  is, 
that  it  should  be  carried  on  in  such  a  manner 
as  that  each  fermenting  vat  should  be  full  at 
the  close  of  a  day's  work,  so  that  fermentation, 
etc.,  might  go  on  with  uninterrupted  regularity. 
Vineyardists  who  neglect  this  condition  com- 
mit a  grave  error,  giving  cause  for  an  irregular 
fermentation,  which  always  injures  the  quality 
of  the  wine.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  num- 
ber of  hands  employed  ought  to  be  calculated 
for  this  end,  and  the  work  directed  from  this 
point  of  view.  In  the  gathering  and  selection 
of  the  grapes,  all  possible  care  and  vigilance 
are  necessary.  The  employment  of  proper 
scissors  is  a  thousand  times  preferable  to  the 
vile  knives  in  common  use  among  our  vigner- 
ons.  With,  the  scissors  the  bunch  is  cut  off 
without  injury  and  without  shaking  the  vine, 
which  is  not  the  case  when  ordinary  knives  are 
used. 


THE   PLANT    REQUIRED   FOR  MAKING 
WINE. 


Before  treating  of  the  different  operations  of 
wine  making,  it  may  be  useful  to  pass  in  review 
the  utensils  and  appliances  required  in  the 
work. 

In  the  wine  industry,  as  in  most  others,  the 
appliances  used  have  much  to  do  with  the  after 
products.  In  wine  making,  the  process  adopted 
is  as  important  as  are  the  vessels,  the  apparatus, 
instruments  and  utensils  which  must  of  necess- 
ity be  employed. 

The  simplicity  of  the  plant  is  a  very  praise- 
worthy matter,  so  long  as  it  is  sufficient  for  the 
prompt  and  effective  execution  of  the  labor. 

In  the  greater  part  of  the  chambers  in  which 
our  wines  are  made,  which  are  our  wine-work- 
shops, the  simplicity  is  excessive  and  almost 
primitive,  so  much  so  that  the  same  word  serves 
to  designate  the  house  or  office,  and  the  stone 
tank  in  which  the  grapes  are  trodden,  and 
which  forms  their  principal  part. 

A  quadrangular  stone  tank,  roughly  built, 
raised  somewhat  above  the  floor  of  a  house, 
nearly  always  without  a  roof;  another  tank  of 


28  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

much  smaller  dimensions  contiguous  to  and 
somewhat  below  it,  which  we  call  lagarica  or 
pio,  a  beam  fixed  at  one  end  against  the  Avail  of 
the  tank,  and  having  at  the  other  end  a 
hole  into  which  is  secured  a  smaller  beam  load- 
ed with  one  or  more  huge  stones,  the  whole 
forming  the  wine-press,  constitute  the  wine- 
making  appliances  of  the  greater  portion  of  our 
wineries  in  the  provinces  of  the  north.  The 
keeping-cellar  is  usually  in  no  better  condition. 

In  the  great  vineyards  of  the  Douro,  and  in 
others  formed  after  their  pattern,  the  system  is 
the  same,  with  the  essential  difference  of  the 
size,  number  and  better  disposition  of  the  parts. 
There  the  press-houses  and  cellars  are  vast, 
regularly  built  and  contiguous  to  each  other; 
the  first  being  erected  011  a  floor  higher  than 
the  second,  so  as  to  admit  the  wine  to  run  from 
the  press-rooms  to  the  great  vessels  through 
covered  channels. 

The  tanks,  the  wells  (pios)  and  the  presses 
are  placed  methodically  and  symmetrically  in 
the  press  rooms,  as  are  the  great  keeping-ves- 
sels (tone-is)  in  the  cellar. 

To  each  tank  there  is  a  corresponding  window 
through  which  the  grapes  are  poured  in  as  they 
are  brought  from  the  vineyard.  To  each  two 
tanks  there  is  a  well  which  receives  alternately 
the  wine  made  in  them,  and  from  which  it  runs 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  29 

through  the  covered  channels  into  the  tuns 
(toneis.) 

All  these  arrangements  would  be  highly  wor- 
thy of  imitation  if  they  could  without  incon- 
venience be  adopted  in  the  making  of  all  wines. 
The  wines  of  high  and  rapid  fermentation, 
made  with  grapes  very  rich  in  sugar,  and  at 
the  expense  of  a  prolonged  and  violent  tread- 
ing by  men,  and  whose  density  (expessura)  is 
corrected  afterwards  by  the  addition  of  brandy, 
can  be  made  only  in  (lagares)  stone  tanks,  such 
as  those  of  the  Douro. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  more  natural,  pure, 
genuine  wines,  which  do  not  require  to  be 
either  excessively  trodden  or  derated,  and 
above  all,  ordinary  wines  from  grapes  of  moder- 
ate or  very  limited  saccharine  strength,  cannot 
be  conveniently  made  in  these  shallow  stone  of 
little  depth  and  broad  surface. 

There  are  many  reasons  why  these  tanks  (la- 
f fares)  should  be  given  up;  they  are  difficult  to 
wash  perfectly  clean,  on  account  of  the  rough- 
ness of  the  stones,  whilst  absolute  cleanliness 
of  all  vessels  in  which  the  wine  is  made,  is  an 
indispensable  condition  of  the  healthy  after  for- 
mation of  the  product,  because  they  cool  the 
must  and  waste  the  heat  required  for  fermenta- 
tion; because  their  great  opening  and  shallow- 
ness  prevent  the  must  and  pomace  from  being 


30  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

protected  from  the  air,  which  might  prove  very 
injurious,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  to  wines  of  less 
uctive  fermentation,  and  therefore  proportion- 
ately more  prolonged;  because  on  account  of 
the  very  nature  and  form  of  their  construction 
they  occupy  much  space,  because  the  angular 
spaces  or  corners  interfere  with  the  uniformity 
of  the  fermentation,  withdrawing  a  portion  of 
the  must  from  the  general  movement  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  regular  formation  of  the  wine, 
and  lastly,  because,  when  out  of  any  motive  we 
may  wish  to  alter  their  dimensions  or  change 
the  system,  we  are  put  to  much  more  expense 
than  would  be  the  case  if  we  had  to  alter  wood- 
en vessels  and  appliances,  or  dispose  of  them, 
as  they  always  possess  an  appreciable  value. 

In  those  countries  where  the  best  food  wines 
(vinlios  de  pasto)  are  made,  stone  tanks  for  work- 
ing the  grapes  are  wholly  unknown;  and  none 
are  used  but  such  as  are  made  of  oak  hooped 
with  iron;  and  these  realized  all  the  requisites 
for  good  vinincation.  This  kind  is  not  wholly 
imknown  in  Portugal,  but  is  by  no  means  com- 
mon; and  those  that  we  use  are  not  always  of 
the  most  convenient  construction. 

Wine  making  in  stone  tanks,  were  it  not  for 
the  drawbacks  already  pointed  out,  would  real- 
ize the  inestimable  advantage  of  extreme  sim- 
plicity, for  the  entire  work  could  be  done  in 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  31 

them;  the  stripping,  if  desired,  treading,  fer- 
menting and  pressing  the  pomace.  The  great 
vats  ( baheirns)  on  the  other  hand,  serve  only  for 
fermenting.  The  grapes,  when  put  in  must  be 
completely  crushed,  and  as  soon  as  fermenta- 
tion is  over,  the  pomace  must  be  taken  out  to 
be  pressed.  But  notwithstanding  this  apparent 
round-about  way,  they  are  in  every  sense  to  be 
preferred  in  the  making  of  pure,  genuine  ali- 
mentary wines,  principally  the  red  kinds;  for 
white  wines,  not  intended  to  be  blended  with 
red,  may  be  made  differently,  as  we  shall  see 
hereafter. 

[N.  B.  Here  occur  three  paragraphs  touch- 
ing the  construction  of  cellars  and  presses,  but 
they  contain  no  hints  which  are  not  already 
generally  reduced  to  practice  in  California.] 

It  is  of  the  very  utmost  consequence  that  the 
crushing  and  pressing  room  should  be  well  ven- 
tilated, and  kept  perfectly  clean;  the  floor  laid 
with  brick  or  cement,  the  walls  whitewashed 
with  lime,  the  roof  lined,  and  the  windows  glaz- 
ed. Every  sort  of  vessel,  instrument  or  utensil 
must  be,  at  any  rate  during  the  vintage,  fault- 
lessly clean.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that 
the  same  applies  to  the  cellar  and  every  vessel 
in  it. 


PREPARATION  OF  THE  GRAPES. 


When  the  grapes  have  been  delivered  at  the 
crushing  room,  selected  and  freed  from  all  de- 
fected ones,  they  should  be  reduced  to  must  as 
soon  as  possible,  but  under  varying  circumstan- 
ces, and  in  different  localities,  they  are  submit- 
ted to  a  previous  preparation,  which,  though 
not  always  an  advantage,  is  sometimes  useful. 
This  is  known  as  stripping,  the  separation  of  the 
berries  from  all  woody  matters,  which  is  com- 
monly called  pomace. 

In  some  countries  renowned  for  their  fine 
wines,  stripping  is  had  recourse  to  as  a  general 
rule;  in  others  not  less  famous,  it  is  absolutely 
condemned,  and  employed  only  on  very  excep- 
tional occasions;  in  others  a  middle  course  is 
adopted,  the  stripping  being  either  partial,  to- 
tal or  not  at  all,  according  to  circumstances. 
Results  obtained  in  different  countries  seem  to 
justify  these  different  methods;  so  there  is  noth- 
ing absolute  in  the  theory  of  stripping.  The 
discussion  of  the  theory  of  stripping  does  not 
enter  into  my  plan.  I  aim  only  at  pointing  out 
certain  indications  which  may  prove  practically 
useful. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  33 

Stripping  may  prove  either  useful  or  inju- 
rious to  the  fermentation,  either  chemically  or 
mechanically;  chemically  on  account  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  matters  supplied  to  the  must;  me- 
chanically by  reason  of  the  division  and  volume 
which  it  makes  in  the  fermenting  vessel. 

In  France,  Germany,  and  Hungary,  white 
wines  are  fermented,  as  a  general  rule,  after 
complete  separation  of  the  berries  from  the 
stalks.  In  making  such,  the  presence  of  pom- 
ace during  the  fermentation  is  neither  necessary 
nor  useful,  but  on  the  contrary  prejudicial;  but 
in  this  instance  there  is  no  need  of  stripping, 
since  the  grapes  are  put  through  the  press  just 
as  they  come  from  the  vineyard.  The  presence 
or  absence  of  the  stalks  is  a  question  affecting 
red  wines  only. 

The  stalks,  on  account  of  the  substances 
which  they  contain,  may  be  liable  to  supply  a 
considerable  amount  of  support  to  the  fermen- 
tation; and  from  this  point  of  view  their  utility 
cannot  be  doubted  in  the  case  when  grapes  of 
high  saccharine  strength  are  deficient  in  nitro- 
genous matters,  acids  and  salts,  as  often  occurs 
in  our  warmest  and  best  situations. 

On  the  other  hand  it  might  impart  a  certain 
amount  of  acerbity  and  astringency  to  wines 
made  from  thin,  watery  musts,  which  would  im- 
prove their  bouquet  and  aroma.  Still,  this 

2A 


34  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

greenness  and  astringency  may  easily  become 
excessive,  and  leave  the  wine  rough  and  harsh, 
unless  care  be  taken  not  to  have  it  very  long  in 
contact  with  the  must,  or  if  the  fermentation  be 
unusually  prolonged,  or  when  we  desire  to  ob- 
tain all  the  body  and  color  possible. 

The  stalks  may  also  be  useful  in  the  fermen- 
tation of  musts  very  thick  and  rich  in  sugar; 
because  they  leave  the  fermenting  mass  more 
porous  and  more  accessible  to  air,  and  so  pro- 
mote its  progress. 

Experience  has  proved  that  in  most  cases, 
wines  made  with  the  stalks  are  less  liable  to  go 
wrong  and  are  of  greater  durability;  and  that 
the  roughness  which  they  show  at  first,  grad- 
ually passes  off,  and  eventually  disappears  alto- 
gether. 

Some  writers  on  wines  attribute  this  power 
of  endurance  to  the  presence  of  tannin  in  the 
stalks;  others  deny  the  existence  of  tannin  in 
the  woody  matter  of  the  bunch  of  grapes;  and 
convinced  of  its  absence,  consider  the  presence 
of  the  stalks  useless.  The  chemical  nature  of 
the  stalks  has  never  yet  been  properly  studied; 
still  the  experiments  which  I  have  made  up- 
on it,  satisfy  me  that  tannin,  properly  so  call- 
ed, does  not  exist  in  the  stalks  of  the  bunch, 
like  it  does  in  the  husks  and  seeds  of  the  grapes. 
In  the  meantime,  though  the  astringent  princi- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  35 

pie  of  this  part  of  the  bunch  does  not  strike  the 
per-salts  of  iron  black,  as  does  that  of  the  seed, 
it  by  no  means  follows  that  it  may  not  exercise 
a  preservative  power  in  the  wine,  analagous  to 
that  which  true  tannin  does,  undoubtedly. 

From  all  the  above,  we  may  conclude  that 
there  is  no  need  of  laying  it  down  as  a  rule, 
that  stripping  should  always  be  adopted  in  mak- 
ing pure,  genuine  red  wine;  but  rather  that  we 
should  pay  attention  to  the  condition  and  na- 
ture of  the  grapes,  and  to  the  quality  of  the 
wine  we  desire  to  make,  and  guide  our  opera- 
tions accordingly. 

If  the  grapes  of  their  own  nature,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  conditions  of  the  season,  are  very 
ripe  and  sugary,  so  as  to  yield  a  very  dense 
must,  stripping  will  be  out  of  place. 

If  they  are  watery,  deficient  of  sweetness, 
flat-tasted  and  insipid,  even  in  this  case  the 
stalks  will  help  to  give  bouquet  and  aroma. 

If  they  taste  harsh  and  notably  acid,  it  is  de- 
sirable to  make  a  partial  stripping,  and  occa- 
sionally a  total. 

If  owing  to  exceptional  circumstances,  it 
should  be  evident  before  the  vintage,  that  a 
large  portion  of  the  berries  would  have  to  be 
rejected,  in  this  instance  it  becomes  desirable 
to  make  a  partial  stripping. 

Of   course   in  practice  many   circumstances 


36  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

may  occur  to  necessitate  a  modification  of  these 
precepts.  It  may,  for  example,  happen  that 
the  vintage  may  be  so  very  abundant  as  to  ex- 
ceed the  capacity  of  our  fermenting  vats,  in 
which  case  stripping  would  be  useful  by  reduc- 
ing considerably  the  volume  of  material  to  be 
dealt  with.  The  construction  of  the  fermenting 
vats  calls  for  attention  also.  If  they  be  covered 
the  stalks  do  no  harm  in  most  instances; on  the 
other  hand,  when  the  fermentation  is  made  in 
uncovered  ones,  the  stalks  are  useful  in  form- 
ing "the  cap,"  which  rises  to  the  surface  of 
the  must. 

When  our  aim  is  to  obtain  a  soft,  velvety 
wine,  or  one  somewhat  sweet,  stripping  wholly 
or  partially  is  desirable;  if,  on  the  contrary,  we 
desire  a  rough,  harsh  wine  that  will  lay  hold  of 
the  tongue  and  throat,  then  not  only  no  strip- 
ping, but  prolonged  fermentation  on  the  skins 
and  stalks,  Rapid  fermentation,  and  brief  con- 
tact of  the  stalks  with  the  must  impart  to  it  no 
excessive  roughness  or  astringency. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  said,  stripping 
should  be  had  recourse  to  or  not,  wholly  or 
partially,  according  as  we  note  the  various  con- 
ditions of  the  state  and  nature  of  the  grapes, 
and  the  quality  of  the  wine  we  desire  to  make. 

Stripping  may  be  done  in  many  ways.  The 
most  simple  is  to  use  a  wooden  rake  upon  an 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  37 

inclined  plane  over  the  crusher,  which  will  eas- 
ily detach  the  berries.  This  plan  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  taking  off  only  the  ripe  berries,  leav- 
ing the  green  ones  adhering  to  the  stalks. 
There  are  many  forms  of  pieves  which  can  be 
made  to  answer  the  purpose  w^ell.  As  the 
bunches  are  worked  backwards  or  forwards  over 
the  wires,  the  berries  drop  through  the  inter- 
stices and  are  then  crushed.  On  the  Douro 
they  employ  huge  frames  with  wire  bottoms 
which  they  call  escangcdhadeiras  (breakers  up), 
because  they  separate  the  refuse  or  stalks.  In 
Burgundy,  where  stripping  is  rarely  practiced, 
even  partially,  they  employ  a  sort  of  wicker 
sieve  placed  over  a  small  barrel,  into  which  the 
berries  fall.  It  matters  little  what  method  is 
adopted;  the  most  simple,  convenient  and  the 
cheapest,  is  the  best. 

Another  preparatory  operation,  and  indispen- 
sable in  making  red  wine,  of  whatever  nature  it 
may  be,  is  the  crushing  of  the  grapes  so  as  to 
get  out  of  the  berries  whatever  matters  they 
contain,  wh-  ther  liquid  or  solid.  The  method 
followed  by  us,  of  having  the  grapes  trodden 
by  men  with  bare  feet,  offers  great  advantage 
in  nearly  every  instance,  when  the  work  is  done 
with  necessary  cleanliness,  which  is  indispensa- 
ble to  keep  the  wine  from  deteriorating  in  its 
after  stages.  The  pressure  exerted  by  men's 


38  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

feet  is  enough  to  crush  the  berries,  without 
smashing  the  seeds  or  the  stalks;  while  the 
commotion  produced  in  the  mass  by  the  alter- 
nate action  of  the  feet,  during  the  operation, 
forces  into  it  plenty  of  air  to  start  and  continue 
the  fermentation. 

In  most  cases  when  we  start  in  to  make  gen- 
uine natural  wines,  it  is  quite  sufficient  that  the 
berries  be  thoroughly  crushed,  in  order  that  the 
must  may  be  set  free,  and  that  contact  may  be 
maintained  during  fermentation,  between  the 
liquid  and  solid  portions.  When,  however,  we 
seek  to  make  the  generous,  strong  wine  of  the 
Douro,  long  and  violent  treading,  is  both  useful 
and  necessary,  to  enrich  the  must,  to  aerate  it, 
and  to  ensure  a  more  active  fermentation;  but 
this  process  does  not  hold  good  for  making  gen- 
uine wines  for  regular  consumption. 

In  making  white  or  liqueur  wines,  there  is  no 
need  of  treading  the  fruit;  it  is  enough  to  crush 
them  with  the  press  and  collect  the  must  in  the 
fermenting  vessels.  In  this  way  alone  can 
bright  pale  white  wines  be  obtained,  like  those 
of  Germany  and  France.  In  any  other  way, 
how  limited  soever  be  the  contact  of  the  must 
with  the  stalks  and  skins,  the  wines  acquire  a 
yellow  color,  more  or  less  intense,  due  in  part  to 
the  coloring  matter  of  the  skins,  and  partly  to 
the  oxidation  of  certain  matters  yielded  by  the 
stalks. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  39 

[N.  B.  Machinery  now  used  as  a  substitute 
for  treading  seem  to  have  failed  hitherto  to  ef- 
fect the  requisite  aeration  of  the  must,  without 
recourse  to  more  or  less  efficient  means,  none  of 
which  seem  nearly  equal  to  working  with  the 
feet.  J.  I.  B.I 

To  resume :  stripping  or  no  stripping,  what  is 
indispensable,  is  to  effect  by  treacling,  crushing, 
or  by  any  other  method,  a  perfectly  fluid  and 
homogeneous  must,  and  to  promote  contact 
among  all  its  parts,  whether  fluid  or  solid,  so 
that  fermentation  may  go  on  uniformly,  and  the 
reactions,  necessary  to  a  perfect  wine,  may  be 
established. 

In  this,  as  well  as  in  all  other  operations  in 
wine-making,  the  utmost  neatness  and  cleanli- 
ness must  be  observed,  both  in  casks  and  uten- 
sils; and  must  be  most  rigorously  enforced  on 
the  men  employed  in  treading  the  fruit.  The 
slightest  neglect  in  these  particulars,  may  be  the 
means  of  having  germs  of  disease  introduced 
into  the  wine,  which  will  eventually  develop 
and  greatly  injure  or  destroy  it. 


FERMENTATION. 


The  operations  which  I  have  described  liith- 
to  are  only  preparatory  to  the  wine  making,  or 
the  transforming  of  must  into  wine.  Wine,  ac- 
cording to  the  common  acceptation  of  the  word, 
is  the  liquid  resulting  from  what  we  call  vin- 
ous, spirituous  or  alcoholic  fermentation  of  the 
juice  of  grapes. 

Seeing  that  vinous  fermentation  is  an  indis- 
pensable condition  in  making  wine,  it  is  .impor- 
tant that  we  should  have  clear  ideas  of  the  cir- 
cumstances which  favor  or  prejudice  the  forma- 
tion of  it,  in  order  to  properly  appreciate  the 
value  and  importance  of  the  practical  rules 
which  are  to  guide  us  in  making  wine. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  go  extensively  into 
the  doctrine  or  theory  of  fermentation,  as  ac- 
cepted by  modern  science.  I  shall  limit  myself 
to  pointing  out  only  such  fundamental  facts  as 
are  necessary  to  understand  the  rules  and  prac- 
tical processes. 

Alcoholic  fermentation  is  a  transforming 
movement,  produced  in  liquid  containing  sugar, 
either  natural  or  artificial,  in  presence  of  one 
particular  ferment. 


•  T.AHE 


I  '  IX  1C  UL  TUB  E  0 


The  ferment  itself  is  an  organized  and  living 
being,  which  for  its  nourishment  and  develop- 
ment consumes  a  part  of  the  sugar,  transform- 
ing the  rest  into  carbonic  acid,  which  passes  in- 
to the  air  in  the  state  of  gas,  and  into  alcohol 
and  other  principles,  which  remain  in  solution 
and  constitute  the  spirituous  liquid  . 

Alcoholic  fermentation  is  not  the  only  phe- 
nomenon of  the  kind  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted. There  are  indeed  several  different 
species  of  fermentations,  all  of  which  appear, 
like  this,  to  be  corresponding  actions  of  a  vital 
force.  In  all  of  them,  one  or  more  living  be- 
ings, vegetable  or  animal,  excite  in  the  liquids, 
or  mediums  in  which  they  exist,  through  the 
exercise  of  their  vital  powers,  chemical  reac- 
tions and  modifications,  in  which  are  formed, 
at  the  cost  of  the  existing  products,  other  pro- 
ducts of  a  quite  different  composition.  Setting 
aside,  however,  these  diverse  fermentations, 
we  will  direct  attention  for  a  while  to  that  one 
which  most  concerns  us  in  wine  making;  be- 
cause it  is  essential  and  indispensable  thereun- 
to. AVe  call  it  the  alcoholic  fermentation,  in 
which,  as  just  said,  the  sugar  is  transformed 
by  the  ferment  into  alcohol,  and  a  few  other 
products. 

The  conditions  essential  to  produce  those  ef- 
fects are  the  following: 


42  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

1st.  A  watery  liquid  containing  a  certain 
quantity  of  sugar  in  solution. 

2nd.     The  presence  of  air. 

3rd.  Ferment  already  formed,  or  nitroge- 
nous matter  of  the  nature  of  what  chemists  call 
albuminoid,  on  account  of  the  analogy  of  its 
composition  to  that  of  the  white  of  an  egg,  and 
which  is  capable  of  affording  nourishment  to 
the  ferment. 

4th.  A  moderate  temperature,  15  to  20  centi- 
grade. 

If  we  make  a  not  very  strong  solution  of  su- 
gar in  water,  and  add  a  little  ferment  to  it, 
whether  beer-yeast,  or  wine  lees,  or  in  their 
stead  the  albuminoid  matter  mentioned  above, 
it  will  after  a  while  enter  into  fermentation, 
which  will  show  itself  by  becoming  turbid,  by 
effervescence  caused  by  the  evolution  of  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  and  by  a  perceptible  rise  of 
temperature.  During  this  fermentation,  the 
sugar  disappears,  and  we  shall  then  find  in  the 
liquid  alcohol,  or  spirit  of  wine,  a  little  fluid 
substance,  called  glycerine,  and  a  crystallizable 
acid — the  succinic.  If  the  nitrogenous  matter 
or  ferment  had  been  supplied  in  sufficient 
quantity,  there  would  be  found,  when  fermenta- 
tion had  ceased,  a  precipitate  containing  the 
organic  being  formed  during  fermentation. 
When  it  becomes  still,  the  liquid  gradually 
clears  itself. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  43 

Now,  if  the  quantity  of  ferment  or  nitroge- 
nous matters,  at  the  expense  of  which  the  trans- 
formation is  carried  on,  were  sufficient,  the 
whole  of  the  sugar  would  have  disappeared:  if, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  ferment  was  not  suffi- 
cient, and  the  liquid  deficient  in  nitrogenous 
matters,  a  portion  of  the  sugar  would  remain 
undecornposed.  If  the  nitrogenous  matters 
were  in  excess,  the  surplus  would  be  found  in 
the  lees. 

What  happens  in  an  artificial  solution  of  su- 
gar, gives  us  an  idea  of  what  takes  place  in 
liquids  containing  natural  sugar,  such  as  the 
must  of  ripe  grapes,  when  placed  under  similar 
conditions.  The  must  of  ripe  grapes  contains 
water,  sugar,  and  both  acid  and  neutral  vegeta- 
ble matters,  and  mineral  and  vegetable  salts. 
Koughly  estimated,  we  may  say  the  water  of 
the  must  will  amount  to  80  per  100;  the  sugar 
may  vary  from  15  to  30  per  cent.,  and  rarely 
more;  and  the  rest  of  the  matters  rise  not  un- 
frequently  to  as  much  as  30  per  cent,  of  the  to- 
tal weight  of  the  must. 

Among  the  neutral  matters,  there  is  always 
present  a  portion  of  nitrogenized  matter  neces- 
sary for  the  life  and  propagation  of  the  inferior 
organism  which  sets  the  alcoholic  fermentation 
in  motion;  and  among  the  salts,  bi-tartarate  of 
potassa,  which  is  met  with  afterwards  as  a  de- 
posit from  the  wine. 


44  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

In  order  to  cause  fermentation  in  a  solution 
of  sugar  in  water,  it  is  necessary  to  add  ferment, 
or  yeast,  to  it,  or  nitrogenous,  and  to  place  it 
in  contact  with  air,  at  the  temperature  mention- 
ed above;  but  in  order  that  the  must  of  grapes 
should  enter  into  fermentation,  all  that  is  re- 
quired is  to  leave  it  at  the  temperature  referred 
to  in  contact  with  air  for  some  time.  It  looks 
as  if  in  this  case  the  fermentation  took  place 
spontaneously.  In  the  theory  generally  receiv- 
ed at  the  present  time,  of  the  vinous  or  alco- 
holic fermentation  of  the  juice  of  ripe  grapes,  it 
is  admitted  that  the  germs  of  the  organism, 
which  develop  in  the  liquid,  as  long  as  fermen- 
tation goes  on,  are  carried  in  the  air,  like 
other  germs,  for  instance  of  mould,  of  oidium, 
and  a  thousand  other  vegetable  and  animal  or- 
ganisms, which  we  see  developing  every  day  in 
circumstances  favorable  to  their  growth. 

These  germs,  rinding  the  sugar  and  nitrogen- 
ized  or  albuminoid  matters  ready  dissolved  in 
the  water  of  the  must,  and  under  favorable  con- 
ditions of  temperature,  develop,  as  if  in  a  fertile 
field,  and  thrive  and  propagate  in  the  liquid  at 
the  cost  of  the  sugar  and  nitrogenous  matter. 
The  sugar,  by  yielding  part  of  its  elements  to 
the  ferment,  is  transformed  into  carbonic  acid 
gas,  which  escapes  in  the  well  known  bubbles, 
into  alcohol,  into  glycerine  and  succinic  acid, 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  45 

which  remain  dissolved  in  the  liquid  along  with 
other  principles,  neutral,  acid,  saline  and  aro- 
matic, which  constitute  the  wine.  The  nitro- 
genous matter  serves  as  plastic  nourishment  to 
the  organism,  which  at  the  end  of  the  fermen- 
tation, and  when  all  the  sugar  has  been  broken 
up,  settles  down  with  the  solid  matters,  which 
were  held  in  suspension  in  the  must,  or  rises  as 
scum  to  the  surface. 

Rigorous  experiments,  and  which  any  scien- 
tific chemist  can  readily  verify,  convinced  Pas- 
teur that  100  parts  of  pure  grape  sugar  yield 
by  fermentation  the  following : 

Carbonic  Acid 46.67 

Alcohol , 48.46 

Glycerine 3.25 

Succinic  Acid 0.61 

Matter  yielded  to  the  ferment 1.03 


100.00 

The  sugar  of  the  grape  is  the  essential  part 
of  the  must  which  goes  to  form  the  fermenta- 
tion of  the  wine;  and  as  the  amount  of  it  is 
greater  or  less,  so  will  be  the  alcoholic  strength 
of  the  wine.  Nevertheless  all  other  substances 
contained  in  the  tissues  of  the  grapes,  in  the 
skins,  in  the  pulp,  in  the  seeds,  and  even  in  the 
stalks,  contribute  to  modify  the  quality  of  the 
liquid  resulting  after  fermentation.  Thus  we 


46  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

learn  that  wine  is  not  a  simple,  but  a  very  com- 
plex liquor,  the  qualities  of  which  depend  on 
the  nature  and  richness  of  the  grapes  of  which 
it  is  made,  and  on  the  circumstances  under  which 
it  is  made;  for  these  may  be  such  as  to  insure 
its  keeping  and  improvement,  or  accelerate  its 
ruin. 

The  above  brief  exposition  of  the  theoretical 
principles,  seems  to  me  sufficient  for  the  under- 
standing of  what  occurs  during  the  transforma- 
tion of  must  into  wine;  and  to  awaken  the  at- 
tention of  the  vintner  to  all  the  circumstaiices 
and  conditions  surrounding  the  operation. 

We  note  two  different  methods  of  wine  mak- 
ing. It  is  done  either  by  separating  the  must 
from  both  stalks,  and  skins,  and  seeds,  and  this 
is  the  simple  way  in  which  French  and  German 
wines  are  made ;  or  the  fermentation  is  conduct- 
ed in  the  must,  together  with  the  whole  or  a 
portion  of  the  solid  parts  of  the  grapes,  as  is 
universally  the  case  in  making  red  wine. 

In  the  first  instance  vinification  is  very  sim- 
ple. The  grapes,  picked  and  clean,  »re  crushed 
right  away  and  the  must  collected;  the  pressing 
made  and  the  juice  added  to  the  must,  and  put 
at  once  into  the  vessels  in  which  it  has  to  fer- 
ment: the  bung-hole  being  left  open  for  the  es- 
cape of  the  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  scum  which 
brings  over  the  part  of  the  ferment  which  rises. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  47 

The  must  contains  in  itself  all  that  is  requisite 
for  making  those  wines.  During  the  crushing 
and  pressing,  the  air  deposits  in  it  the  germs  of 
alcoholic  fermentation,  and  by  being  brought 
into  intimate  contact  with  it,  prepares  it  for 
the  subsequent  reactions  about  to  take  place. 
Thenceforth,  under  suitable  temperature,  fer- 
mentation is  established,  and  continues  of  it- 
self, and  gives  no  further  trouble,  since  the  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  which  is  evolved,  protects  it 
from  contact  with  the  air  by  forming  as  it  were, 
a  gaseous  atmosphere  over  it. 

In  the  second  case,  in  which,  for  the  produc- 
tion of  red  wines,  it  is  indispensable  that  the 
must  be  fermented  in  contact  with  the  skins, 
chiefly  that  the  alcohol,  as  it  forms,  may  dis- 
solve out  the  coloring  matters  which  have  been 
formed  on  their  inner  surfaces,  the  operation 
becomes  complicated,  and  to  be  successfully 
conducted  demands  many  and  serious  precau- 
tions. 


WINE  MAKING  IN  PORTUGAL. 


First  of  all,  let  us  take  a  view  of  the  method, 
in  common  use  in  Portugal,  of  making  wine  in 
stone  tanks  (lagares  de  pedra). 

Generally  the  grapes  are  not  stripped,  but 
are  put  into  the  tank  (lagar) ,  spread  out  and 
bedded,  till  it  is  a  little  more  than  two-thirds 
full,  in  order  to  leave  sufficient  space  for  the 
cap  when  it  rises,  so  that  it  may  not  run  over. 
As  soon  as  all  the  grapes  are  in  the  lagar,  the 
men  with  bare  feet  and  legs,  well  washed,  go 
in  and  begin  to  crush  and  tread  the  berries, 
treading  first  with  one  foot  and  then  the  other. 
This  work  continues  for  a  sufficient  number  of 
hours,  and,  if  the  temperature  be  favorable, 
fermentation  sets  in,  and  may  be  observed  in 
the  appearance  of  bubbles  of  gas  that  form  on 
the  surface,  \)j  the  increase  of  temperature  and 
by  the  wine-smell,  which  begins  to  bo  percepti- 
ble. At  the  same  time  the  empty  skins  and  the 
stalks  keep  rising  to  the  surface,  lifted  by  the 
gas  caused  by  the  fermentation,  and.  if  treading 
be  interrupted  for  a  time,  the  surface  of  the  must 
will  be  covered  by  a  thick  cap  of  stalks  and 
skins.  Fermentation  goes  on  more  rapidly  in 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  49 

the  upper  part  near  the  cap,  than  in  the  lower, 
where  there  is  simply  must.  The  more  active 
of  chemical  reactions,  and  of  vital  functions, 
which  are  correlative  to  chemical  action,  are 
always,  and  under  all  circumstances,  accompa- 
nied by  elevation  of  temperature.  Through  the 
labor  of  treading,  the  solid  and  liquid  portions 
of  the  grapes  become  intimately  mixed,  and  by 
the  continuous  movement  of  the  whole  mass  in 
contact  with  air,  the  air  penetrates  every  parti- 
cle of  it,  depositing  in  it  the  germs  of  ferment 
floating  in  it,  at  the  same  time  supplying  the 
oxygen  which  appears  to  be  indispensable  to 
the  development  of  the  ferment,  as  well  as  to 
the  oxidation  of  the  coloring  matters,  and  prob- 
ably other  reactions  but  little  known.  When 
treading  is  finished,  and  the  cap  has  formed 
over  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  the  air  acts  only 
on  the  porous  surface  of  the  cap,  more  particu- 
larly if  the  tank  be  very  full,  and  an  atmosphere 
of  carbonic  acid  gas  cannot  form,  and  remain 
tranquil  over  it,  to  protect  it.  This  contact  of 
air  with  the  cap,  if  continued  for  a  considera- 
ble length  of  time,  may  cause,  as  we  shall  soon 
see,  very  ruinous  reactions. 

When  the  fermentation  has  been  regular,  and 
made  under  favorable  conditions,  after  some 
hours  of  tumultuous  action,  it  slackens;  the 
"cap"  begins  to  dry  and  cool;  to  crack  and  sep- 

3 


50  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

arate  from  the  covers,  and  to  show  signs  of 
sinking.  At  this  point  the  wine  is  generally 
considered  made;  its  smell  has  become  vinous, 
its  taste  somewhat  astringent,  the  sugar  has 
disappeared,  its  density  much  below  that  of  the 
must,  and  nearly  that  of  water.  The  time  has 
now  arrived  for  drawing  off  the  wine,  complete- 
ly free  from  any  part  of  the  cap,  into  clean  vats 
ready  to  receive  it.  As  soon  as  the  tank  is 
empty  the  cap  is  pressed,  and  the  pressings 
added  to  the  rest  of  the  wine. 

The  above  is  the  regular  order  of  operating. 
We  will  now  examine  the  drawbacks  and  ad- 
vantages which  it  presents  iu  the  case  of  ordi- 
nary wines  of  consumption,  or  more  properly, 
genuine  wines  for  daily  use. 

Considered  apart  from  surrounding  circum- 
stances, the  whole  operation  is  quite  simple. 
Into  one  and  the  same  tank,  the  grapes  are 
emptied  as  they  arrive  from  the  vineyard;  here 
they  are  trodden;  here  they  are  worked  and 
aerated;  here  they  are  fermented;  and  here 
the  pressing  of  the  pomace  is  done.  If  this 
work  has  been  well  done,  with  all  cleanli- 
ness; if  the  weather  was  all  that  could  be  desir- 
ed; if  the  fermentation  went  on  quickly  and 
regularly  without  interruptions,  and  finished  in 
a  short  time,  not  taking  more  than  two  or  three 
days,  we  may  conclude  that  the  wine  made  will 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  51 

prove  as  good  as  we  have  any  right  to  expect, 
regard  being  had  to  the  grapes  and  the  year. 

But  supposing  the  fruit  to  have  been  gather- 
ed in  cold  damp  weather,  the  chilliness  of  the 
stones  of  the  tank  will  be  added  to  the  chill  of 
the  air;  and  still  more,  the  large  open  surface 
of  the  tank  will  retard  alcoholic  fermentation; 
and  then  there  may  be  seen  in  spots  that  glu- 
tinous, sticky  product  of  bad  fermentation,  so 
injurious  to  the  wine. 

Supposing  the  alcoholic  fermentation  to  have 
been  established;  if,  for  the  above  or  other 
causes,  it  be  much  prolonged,  it  slackens, 
stops,  and  becomes  interrupted,  contact  with 
the  air  sets  up  other  ferments  in  the  "cap," 
chiefly  the  acdic,  which  converts  the  alcohol 
already  formed,  into  vinegar;  or  may  be,  the 
putrid  fermentation,  in  which  vibriones  and 
other  inferior  animalcules  are  generated.  In 
whichever  case,  whether  the  cap  be  pressed 
down  through  the  liquid  to  increase  fermenta- 
tion, or  to  obtain  more  color  and  body,  or 
whether  we  simply  add  the  pressings  of  the 
pomace  to  the  rest  of  the  wine,  we  cannot  help 
introducing  destructive  germs,  which  sooner  or 
later  will  show  their  effects  to  the  great  injury 
of  quality  and  keeping  power. 

Again,  supposing  the  fermentation  good  and 
regular;  since  the  surface  of  the  cap  is  large, 


52  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

which  is  exposed  to  the  air,  and  the  tempera- 
ture high,  not  unfrequently  as  high  as  85  to  90° 
Fahrenheit,  a  portion  of  the  alcohol  and  aro- 
matic principles  is  lost  by  evaporation  in  preju- 
dice of  the  richness  of  the  wine.  Injuries  of 
this  kind  are  always  to  be  regretted,  but  more 
especially  in  the  instance  of  weak  wines.  Of 
course,  when  the  wine  intended  for  brandy,  any 
loss  of  alcohol  is  a  dead  loss. 

The  tastes  of  consumers  and  the  exigencies 
of  commerce,  require  very  frequently  full  bod- 
ied, highly  colored  wines.  To  satisfy  these  re- 
quirements, it  is  necessary  to  keep  the  must 
mixed  with  the  pomace  a  long  time.  Now,  for 
reasons  already  assigned,  tanks  (lagares)  are 
wholly  unsuitable. 

Grapes  extremely  ripe,  very  rich  in  sugar, 
and  yielding  very  thick,  dense  must,  such  as 
are  met  with  in  the  best  localities  of  the  Douro, 
make  good  wine  in  those  stone  tanks,  for  they 
require  excessive  treading  and  agitating  in  or- 
der to  render  the  mixture  of  solid  and  fluid 
portions  perfect;  also  that  the  air  may  pene- 
trate it,  and  facilitate  the  reactions,  and  to 
cause  the  fermentation  to  proceed  with  ease  and 
energy.  But  wine  so  made  is  too  rich  and  too 
full-bodied,  and  only  becomes  perfect  after  a 
length  of  time,  on  which  account  it  is  necessary 
to  dose  it  with  brandy,  to  protect  it  against  in- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  53 

jurious  fermentations.  This  dose  of  brandy  is 
put  into  it  when  it  is  vatted,  or  in  the  month  of 
March,  before  the  temperature  of  the  air  is  suf- 
ficiently warm  to  set  up  fresh  fermentation. 
No  such  process  can  be  used  in  making  natural 
wines  for  use  as  food,  which  should  not  be 
highly  charged  with  flavoring  matters,  but  light 
and  dry,  and  which  should  be  fit  for  use  in 
shorter  time. 


METHODS   OF   THE   MEDOC   AND  BUR- 
GUNDY  RECOMMENDED. 


A  method  of  wine-making,  approaching  as 
nearly  as  possible  to  that  in  use  on  the  Medoc, 
by  which  the  excellent  wines  of  Bordeaux  are 
made;  or  the  Burgundy  method,  which  also 
produces  wines  of  great  merit,  seems  to  me  to 
be  perfectly  well  suited  to  the  larger  portion  of 
our  viticultural  centres,  where  table  wines  of  a 
superior  order  are  possible  to  be  made. 

In  both  the  above  named  viticultural  centres 
of  France,  great  wooden  vats,  holding  from  900 
to  4000  gallons,  in  the  shape  of  truncated 
cones,  are  in  use.  These  vessels  have  their 
bottoms  considerably  broader  than  the  tops. 
The  grapes,  whether  stripped  or  not,  in  whole 
or  in  part  only,  are  first  crushed  and  trodden, 
either  by  crushing  machines,  or  by  men's  feet. 
The  must  and  skins,  etc.,  are  then  put  into 
these  vats  till  they  are  conveniently  full,  leav- 
ing 12  or  15  inches,  to  avoid  any  overflow  dur- 
ing fermentation.  This  filling  of  the  vats 
should  be  done  with  the  least  possible  delay, 
and  never  allowed  to  exceed  one  day,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  fermentation,  when  it  has  once 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  55 

begun,  from  being   interrupted,  for  it  always 
injures  the  wine. 

As  fermentation  commences  the  pomace  rises, 
the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  tanks,  and 
forms  a  layer  on  the  top  which  they  call  the 
"cap."  Carbonic  acid  gas  is  thrown  out  in 
torrents;  and  the  motion  of  the  liquid,  due  to 
the  reactions  taking  place  in  it,  becomes  at  first 
tumultuous,  then  after  a  while  subsides,  and 
after  the  lapse  of  a  longer  or  shorter  space  of 
time,  ceases  entirely;  and  the  pomace  which 
formed  the  cap,  cools,  contracts,  and  begins  to 
fall.  The  wine  is  now  made. 

During  the  period  of  tumultuous  fermenta- 
tion, the  wine  makers  of  Burgundy,  especially 
those  who  employ  open  vats,  submerge  the 
pomace  in  the  must  once  or  twice  a  day,  to 
equalize  the  fermentation,  but  more  particular- 
ly in  order  to  obtain  a  maximum  of  coloring 
matter  in  the  wine. 

The  above  is  the  simple  and  regular  order  of 
operating,  but  it  is  always  liable  to  the  same 
dangers,  as  I  noted  in  the  case  of  tanks,  so  far 
as  concerns  contact  with  the  air. 

If  all  the  circumstances  are  favorable,  the 
grapes  perfectly  ripe,  the  weather  uniformly 
warm,  dry  and  clear,  fermentation  sets  in  im- 
mediately, runs  its  course  rapidly,  and  at  the 
end  of  three  or  four  days,  is  finished  and  the 


56  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

wine  made.  Under  such  conditions,  the  mix- 
ing of  the  cap  through  the  must,  in  order  to 
equalize  the  fermentation  and  obtain  more  col- 
oring matter  for  the  wine,  can  in  no  way  be  in- 
jurious to  the  wine.  But  when  the  state  of  the 
weather  is  less  favorable,  when  fermentation  is 
retarded,  and  evil  fermentation  shows  itself  on 
the  cap,  as  the  acetic,  or  putrescent  fermenta- 
tion, then  become  apparent  the  drawbacks  to 
this  method. 

To  obviate  these  dangers,  some  wine  makers 
have,  since  a  long  time,  adopted  plans  of  cover- 
ing the  vats  to  protect  them  from  contact  with 
the  air  during  fermentation.  Many  plans  have 
been  recommended  and  put  in  practice,  to  con- 
duct fermentation  in  closed  vats;  and  in  this, 
as  in  other  cases,  there  appears  a  good  deal  of 
exaggeration.  Absolute  covering,  hermetically 
sealing  the  vats,  is  impracticable  and  absurd, 
for  there  must  be  an  escape  for  the  carbonic 
acid  gas,  or  else  it  would  burst  the  vat.  A  per- 
fect covering,  with  a  safety  valve,  and  with  a 
tube  for  the  escape  of  gas,  dipping  into  a  vessel 
of  water,  if  on  one  hand  it  overcomes  the  con- 
tact of  air,  without  risk  of  bursting  the  vat,  it 
on  the  other  hand  exerts  a  pressure  on  the  fer- 
menting fluid,  and  checks  its  regular  progress, 
not  without  risk  of  injuring  the  quality  of  the 
wine,  and  also  at  the  same  time  increasing  the 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  57 

cost  of  production.  An  ordinary  wooden  cov- 
ering provided  with  boles  for  the  escape  of  gas, 
and  just  laid  over  the  fermenting  vat,  or  even 
loose  boards,  covered  with  matting  in  a  similar 
way,  as  soon  as  fermentation  has  fairly  set  in, 
presents  no  inconvenience,  and  completely  sat- 
isfies all  requirements. 

On  a  supposition  that  the  rapid  dispersion  of 
carbonic  acid  gas,  assisted  by  the  elevated  tem- 
perature of  the  fermenting  must,  would  cause  a 
pure  loss  of  alcohol  and  aromatic  elements,  dif- 
ferent plans  have  been  suggested  for  condens- 
ing and  retaining  these  elements.  Such  were 
the  old  apparatus  of  Gervais  and  the  modern 
one  of  Minard.  The  first  one  proved  to  be 
practically  useless,  and  was  abandoned.  As  to 
the  other,  but  few  comparative  experiments 
have  been  made,  and  while  some  consider  it 
highly  advantageous,  others  of  not  less  authori- 
ty declare  that  its  advantages  are  not  an  equiv- 
alent for  the  trouble  it  causes.  For  myself,  I 
neither  advise  nor  condemn  its  use. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  explained,  I  con- 
sider the  best  course  for  our  people  to  adopt  in 
making  natural,  genuine,  nutritious,  table 
wines,  is  to  ferment  in  moderate  sized  vats 
(balseiros),  simply  covered. 

To  recapitulate — the  grapes  clean,  and  free 
fiorn  imperfect  berries,  stripped  from  the  stalks 
SA 


58  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

wholly,  partially  or  not  at  all,  conformably  to 
the  doctrine  above  laid  down,  should  be  thor- 
oughly trodden  in  the  tank,  or  on  a  suitable 
platform  or  bench,  placed  at  the  side  of  or  over 
the  vat,  so  that  the  crushed  mass  may  run  in, 
until  it  is  within  12  or  15  inches  of  being  full. 
This  work  ought  to  be  done  in  the  shortest 
time  possible,  so  that  no  vat  should  be  left  to 
the  following  day  unfilled  and  unfinished.  The 
next  thing  to  do  is  to  stir  up  and  thoroughly  mix 
the  whole  mass,  with  rakes  of  wood,  or  other 
suitable  wooden  implements,  to  render  it  uni- 
form and  give  it  all  the  airing  possible;  and  as 
soon  as  general  fermentation  has  become  estab- 
lished, to  cover  the  vat  and  leave  the  fermenta- 
tion to  run  its  natural  course.  As  soon  as  fer- 
mentation has  ceased,  and  the  wine  appears  to 
be  what  was  desired — that  is,  when  the  sweet- 
ness has  disappeared,  and  its  place  has  been 
taken  by  the  taste  of  wine,  and  moderate  astrin- 
gency  and  peculiar  roughness  of  tannin,  which 
is  necessary  for  its  keeping,  and  when  its  color 
is  satisfactory,  it  is  time  to  draw  it  off  into 
keeping  vats.  A  densimeter  or  saccharometer 
will  also  afford  information  if  the  wine  is  made ; 
for  if  it  is,  the  instrument  should  stand  nearly 
at  the  point  of  water.  When  the  wines  are  in- 
tended to  be  quite  dry  and  hard,  the  instrument 
should  indicate  zero,  0.  Such  as  are  meant 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  59 

somewhat  soft,  may  be  drawn  off  when  the  in- 
strument marks  2,  3  or  4  degrees  above  zero, 
so  as  to  admit  of  slow  fermentation  in  the  cask. 

Before  drawing  the  wine  out  of  the  ferment- 
ing vats,  it  is  a  custom  in  wine  countries,  which 
employ  the  method  just  described,  to  stir  the 
cap  through  the  wine  and  mix  it  well,  so  as  not 
to  lose  what  has  been  soaking  the  skins  and 
matters  forming  the  cap,  always  richer  in  body 
and  alcohol,  with  the  rest  of  the  liquid  in  which 
the  fermentation  had  been  slower.  There  is 
nothing  wrong  about  this  practice;  it  is  rather 
advantageous,  wrhen  the  condition  of  the  cap  is 
satisfactory;  that  is,  when  no  injurious  fermen- 
tation has  taken  place  in  it;  and  when  the  smell 
and  taste  of  it  are  plainly  those  of  wine. 

On  account  of  the  fact  that  the  most  perfect 
and  profitable  way  of  making  red  wines  is  to 
ferment  on  the  skins,  many  writers  upon  wine 
making  have  recommended  special  plans  for 
keeping  them  submerged  in  the  must  during 
fermentation.  This  is  effected  by  a  grate,  or  a 
second  covering  bored  full  of  holes,  which  can 
be  fixed  in  the  fermenting  vat  at  some  conven- 
ient depth.  This,  of  course,  will  arrest  the 
skins,  etc.,  as  they  rise,  and  allow  free  passage 
for  the  liquid,  and  for  the  escape  of  gas.  Some 
simple  mechanical  contrivance  to  secure  it  in 
its  place  against  being  lifted  up  by  the  pomace 


60  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

will  be  needed,  but  can  be  easily  provided. 
The  permanent  depression  of  the  pomace  below 
the  surface,  yields  excellent  results,  and  saves 
labor,  as  to  the  quality  of  the  wine.  This  idea 
has  been  amplified  by  a  proposition  to  use  sev 
eral  such  perforated  lids  or  grates  so  as  to  dis- 
tribute the  pomace  as  equally  as  possible 
through  the  fermenting  must.  Though  not  yet 
in  common  use,  this  idea  is  being  carried  into 
practice  at  the  present  time. 

In  places  where  the  grapes  ripen  well,  and 
where  the  climate  is  favorable  for  a  prompt  and 
complete  fermentation  in  a  short  space  of  time, 
open  fermenting  vats,  or  only  slightly  covered, 
with  the  pomace  kept  below  the  surface,  may 
be  safely  used.  But  when  we  cannot  reckon 
upon  the  completion  of  fermentation  within 
the  short  interval  of  three  or  four  days,  it  is 
safer  and  better  to  use  the  covered  vats  describ 
ed  above,  those  that  protect  the  cap  from  the 
air,  and  allow  the  escape  of  the  formed  gas 
and  check  the  cooling  of  the  fermenting  mass. 

In  the  making  of  fine,  soft,  delicate  red  wines 
for  the  table,  the  vinification  in  (balseiros)  mod- 
erate sized  vats  is  the  safest;  but  when  we  treat 
of  ordinary  wines  of  consumption,  the  process 
admits  of  much  modification,  for  then  we  may 
use  the  huge  vessels  with  wide  top  openings  to 
receive  the  must  and  pomace.  In  this  instance 


VINICULTURE  OF  CL 


the  grapes  are  pressed  in  the  (lagar)  tank,  or 
on  a  suitable  bench  or  platform,  and  the  must 
and  pomace  run  into  the  vessel  till  it  is  more 
than  two-thirds  full,  leaving  plenty  of  space  for 
the  cap  not  to  reach  the  outer  edge  of  the  open- 
ing. Under  these  conditions,  the  fermentation 
will  be  slower;  but  since  the  accumulation  of 
carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  upper  part  of  the  ves- 
sel impedes  the  contact  with  atmospheric  air, 
those  injurious  fermentations  cannot  occur,  and 
the  fermentation  may  go  on  for  a  longer  time 
without  any  other  drawback  besides  the  in- 
crease of  the  body  and  hardness  of  the  wine, 
matters  which  might  be  reduced  by  a  previous 
partial  stripping  of  the  grapes. 

It  very  often  happens  that  the  conditions  of 
the  weather  are  such  as  to  so  interfere  with  the 
alcoholic  fermentation  as  to  prevent  its  ready 
development.  In  most  instances  it  will  have 
to  be  assisted  with  artificial  warmth.  The 
readiest  way  is  the  cautious  warming  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  must,  taking  particular  care  lest  it 
should  get  a  bad  taste.  This  heated  must, 
never  beyond  175°  Fahrenheit,  is  intimately 
mixed  with  that  in  the  vat.  It  is  possible  to 
devise  other  methods  of  warming  the  musts, 
but  all  appear  more  or  less  risky.  When  there 
is  at  hand  a  heap  of  pomace  quite  sweet  and 
fresh  from  a  recent  pressing,  and  not  as  yet  alter- 


62  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

ed  by  the  action  of  the  air,  we  may  with  advan- 
tage mix  it  with  the  must,  and  being  warm,  it 
will  directly  set  up  fermentation.  Undoubt- 
edly this  is  one  of  the  best  means  of  pro- 
moting fermentation.  But  suppose  we  have 
no  pomace,  in  the  condition  just  stated, 
we  can  supply  its  place  in  the  following 
manner:  place  a  small  cask  in  a  place  in  the 
house  where  the  temperature  is  over  62°  F.,  and 
start  fermentation  in  a  quantity  of  selected  and 
well  crushed  grapes,  which  should  be  in  some 
relation  to  the  size  of  the  vat  which  we  have  to 
warm;  for  example,  for  a  vat  of  1100  gallons,  it 
will  suffice  to  warm  the  must  to  the  above  men- 
tioned heat  of  from  50  to  100  gallons  of  must. 
Then  when  the  fermentation  has  become  very 
active  in  this  warmed  must  it  should  be  added  to 
the  large  body,  and  the  fermentation  will  go  on 
with  regularity.  Since  alcoholic  fermentation 
needs  a  moderate  temperature,  higher  than  62° 
F.,  and  knowing  that  any  circumstance  which 
checks  and  reduces  it  must  be  injurious,  it  be- 
comes a  matter  of  necessity  that  the  fermenting 
cellars  should  be  kept  in  good  repair,  and  pro- 
tected against  changes  easily  caused  by  cur- 
rents of  cold  air.  It  is,  however,  only  proper 
to  observe  that  this  arrangement  is  inseparable 
from  one  great  inconvenience,  viz:  injury  to  the 
health  of  the  workmen,  who  have  to  labor  in 
cellars  where  vinous  fermentation  is  going  on. 


VINICULTURE -OF  CLARET.  63 

Carbonic  acid  gas,  evolved  so  abundantly 
during  fermentation,  is  a  deadly,  irrespirable 
gas,  which  is  followed  by  asphyxia  and  death 
when  breathed  pure,  and  frequently  proves  fa- 
tal when  mixed  with  20  per  cent,  of  ordinary 
air.  Accidents  from  this  cause  are  by  no  means 
uncommon  in  large  wineries.  In  our  wine  cel- 
lars (Portugal),  where  there  is  often  only  too 
much  ventilation,  where  people  are  continually 
coming  in  and  out,  such  accidents  are  hardly 
ever  met  with.  Still,  under  any  circumstances, 
it  is  no  difficult  matter  to  dispose  of  any  cause 
for  serious  danger. 

Carbonic  acid  gas,  which,  through  being 
colorless,  we  do  not  notice  in  the  air,  is  much 
heavier  than  ordinary  air,  and  on  this  account 
when  not  mixed  through  the  air  will  occupy  the 
lowest  stratum,  forming  a  sort  of  bed  of  great- 
er or  lesser  thickness.  This  circumstance  ac- 
counts for  how  it  has  sometimes  happened  that 
men  who  have  gone  into  those  huge  fermenting 
vessels  have  felt  no  inconvenience  so  long  as 
their  heads  were  above  the  top,  but  when  they 
stooped  they  fell  asphyxiated,  and  would  have 
died  if  assistance  had  not  been  on  hand.  The 
same  might  happen  outside  of  the  fermenting 
vats,  and  on  the  floor  of  the  room,  when  first 
going  in,  in  the  morning,  when  the  fermentation 
had  been  very  brisk  during  the  night,  with  the 


64  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

doors  and  windows  all  closed.  More  danger- 
ous still  would  be  the  case  if  the  fermenting 
room  were  a  cellar,  or  a  room  below  the  level 
of  the  surface.  These  underground  fermenting 
rooms  should  be  absolutely  condemned;  for, 
although  it  may  be  possible  to  get  rid  of  car- 
bonic acid  gas  by  me  ms  of  lime-water,  yet  it 
causes  trouble  and  is  very  liable  to  be  neglect- 
ed. When  the  flow  is  on  a  dead  level  with  or 
raised  above  the  ground,  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
getting  rid  of  the  carbonic  acid  gas,  for  then  it 
can  be  easily  swept  out,  or  it  may  fall  by  its 
own  weight.  When  men  have  to  go  into  those 
great  vessels  and  have  to  work  in  them  after 
fermentation,  it  is  always  desirable  to  be  very 
careful.  There  is  no  difficulty  about  knowing 
whether  or  not  it  is  safe  for  men  to  go  into 
those  large  vats,  because  if  a  lighted  taper  will 
not  burn  the  air  is  unfit  for  human  breathing. 
In  this  case  some  means  are  needed  to  get  air 
in  and  carbonic  acid  out. 

The  success  in  making  good  wine  depends  as 
much  on  the  good  kinds  of  grapes  and  their  per- 
fect ripeness  as  upon  a  good  and  regular  fer- 
mentation. With  the  best  of  grapes  and  a  bad- 
ly managed  fermentation  it  more  frequently 
happens  that  the  wine  will  prove  very  indiffer- 
ent than  with  only  middling  grapes  well  ferment- 
ed. By  carefully  observing  all  the  precautions 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  65 

• 

which  I  have  pointed  out.  watching  assiduously 
the  progress  of  fermentation,  and  vatting  at  the 
time  and  with  the  care  which  I  have  indicated, 
we  may  calculate  with  all  but  certainty  on  hav- 
ing as  good  and  as  sound  a  wine  as  we  have  any 
right  to  expect  from  the  quality  of  the  grapes, 
and  the  character  of  the  season,  and  the  state 
of  weather  during  the  vintage. 

The  vintage  made  with  dispatch,  regularity 
and  neatness — that  is,  so  as  to  fill  one  ferment- 
ing vat  each  day;  with  separation  or  mixing  of 
the  kinds  of  grapes  in  conformity  with  the  kind 
of  wine  intended  to  be  made;  with  the  most 
scrupulous  exclusion  of  every  faulty  berry, 
whether  rotten,  shriveled  or  green;  with  must 
perfectly  prepared  by  crushing  and  aerating; 
with  previous  and  absolute  cleanliness  of  every 
vessel  or  implement  which  is  to  come  in  contact 
with  the  must;  with  a  temperature  in  the  fer- 
menting room  uniformly  somewhat  above  60° 
F. ;  protection  of  the  must  from  contact  with 
the  air  as  soon  as  tumultuous  fermentation  has 
set  in;  care  in  keeping  the  fermentation  regu- 
lar, with  the  pomace  (skins,  etc.)  below  the 
surface  which  is  to  be  preferred  to  forcing  it 
down  daily;  and  finally,  vigilant  attention  to 
the  progress  of  the  fermentation  with  the  view 
to  drawing  of  the  wine  when  the  tumultuous 
fermentation  has  ceased,  and  by  this  means 


6fi  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

• 

avoiding  the  inconveniences  of  a  prolonged  in- 
fusion— such,  generally  speaking,  are  the  means 
to  be  adopted  when  we  endeavor  to  make  good 
wine. 

It  is  not  always  an  easy  matter  to  determine 
exactly  the  best  moment  for  drawing  off  the 
wine  into  casks.  The  hydrometer,  or  any  oth- 
er instrument  that  we  use,  can  give  no  more 
than  approximate  indications.  Taste,  smell  and 
general  appearance  form  the  best  criterion  for 
men  accustomed  to  judge  of  a  particular  variety 
of  wine.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  but  not  in 
all,  the  disappearance  of  the  sugar,  the  smell 
and  taste  of  wine,  a  certain  astringency  and 
roughness,  the  color  which  the  wine  ought  to 
have,  and  the  formation  of  small  bubbles  on 
the  sides  of  a  white  porcelain  or  silver  cup, 
when  shaken  briskly  in  it,  are  almost  certain 
signs  that  the  wine  is  made.  By  this,  however, 
I  do  not  mean  that  it  is  completely  finished, 
nor  that  the  sugar  has  all  been  broken  up;  it  is 
not  desirable  that  it  should  be,  because  the  slow 
after  fermentation  in  the  cask  has  its  own  ad- 
vantages. 

Since  the  new  wine  is  always  turbid,  it  is  use- 
ful to  filter  some  through  filter-paper  and  view 
it  in  a  gla^s,  the  better  to  observe  its  color  and 
some  others  of  its  qualities. 

The  above  indications  of  the  tumultuous  fer- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  67 

mentation  having  ceased,  are  accompanied  by 
another,  which  by  many  is  considered  alone 
sufficient — the  sinking  of  the  cap.  During  tu- 
multuous fermentation  it  was  raised  above  the 
original  level,  but  as  soon  as  this  movement 
ceases  and  the  evolution  of  gas  slackens,  and 
the  temperature,  raised  by  chemical  reactions, 
falls,  it  begins  to  contract  and  sink  towards  its 
original  level. 

In  alcoholic  fermentation  there  are  two  dis- 
tinct periods  to  be  noticed:  the  tumultuous, 
which,  as  the  word  suggests,  is  accompanied 
with  violent  movement;  and  the  sloiu,  which 
goes  on  as  all  the  materials  requisite  for  it  are 
present — that  is,  until  all  the  sugar  shall  have 
disappeared,  or  until  the  external  temperature 
has  become  insufficient  to  sustain  its  activity. 
The  first,  for  red  wine,  has  to  be  carried  on  in 
presence  of  the  solid  parts  of  the  grapes,  which 
supply  it  with  nourishment,  and  yield  the  col- 
oring matter,  tannin  and  salts,  necessary  for 
making  it.  But  when  these  effects  have  once 
been  obtained,  it  always  does  harm  to  leave  the 
wine  in  contact  with  the  pomace,  above  all  if 
the  air  can  act  upon  it.  Hence  it  is  clear  that 
it  should  be  drawn  off  as  soon  as  ever  the  tu- 
multuous fermentation  is  over.  No  particular 
length  of  time  can  be  assigned  for  this  ferment- 
ation, but  in  general  it  does  not  exceed  from 
four  to  six  days. 


68  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

i 

When  we  have  decided  to  draw  off  the  wine, 
it  is  usual,  where  open  fermenting  vessels  are 
used,  to  submerge  the  cap  and  stir  it  through 
the  wine  to  strengthen  it,  or  rather  to  equalize 
it,  for  it  is  known  that  what  is  lying  in  the  mid- 
dle is  fuller  in  body,  and  possesses  more  color 
and  spirit  than  the  rest.  After  a  few  hours, 
when  the  pomace  has  again  begun  to  separate 
from  the  wine,  the  drawing  out  is  proceeded 
with.  But  before  the  mixing  takes  place  we 
should  be  perfectly  certain  that  no  bad  fer- 
mentation has  taken  place — that  no  mould  has 
formed  upon  it.  Should  any  such  appear  it 
should  be  removed  with  scrupulous  care. 

The  wine  is  usually  drawn  from  the  tank  or 
fermenting  vessel  through  a  tap  fixed  near  the 
bottom;  but  as  it  is  liable  to  be  choked  by 
skins,  and  there  should  be  placed  securely 
at  the  back  a  strainer  of  some  kind,  such  as  a 
wicker  basket,  before  the  vessel  was  rilled,  as 
it  hardly  can  be  fixed  afterwards. 

In  the  inst  nee  of  covered  fermenting  tuns, 
and  with  perforated  lids  to  keep  the  pomace 
under  the  wine,  the  lid  and  covering  should  be 
removed  some  time  previous  to  opening  the  tap, 
taking  care  that  the  man  who  does  the  work 
shall  not  be  put  in  danger  of  his  life  by  car- 
bonic acid  gas. 

If  the  arrangement  of  the  establishment  is 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  69 

such  as  I  have  described  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, nothing  can  be  easier  than  to  send  the  wine 
through  pipes  or  tubing  into  the  casks  prepared 
to  receive  it;  but  in  any  case  it  will  prove  han- 
dy to  run  the  wine  first  into  a  sufficiently  deep, 
but  not  very  large  vat,  to  allow  any  gross  impu- 
rity which  may  have  come  through,  to  be  de- 
posited. When  the  fermenting  vessels  stand 
on  the  same  level  as  the  cellar,  the  above  meth- 
od cannot  be  employed,  and  recourse  must  be 
had  to  carrying  the  wine  in  buckets,  or  using  a 
suitable  pump.  An  apparatus  has  been  invent- 
ed by  M.  C.  Laburthe,  of  Mont-de-Marsan,  very 
convenient  for  this  operation,  the  principle  of  it 
being  pressure  of  air.  In  some  countries  huge 
syphons  are  used  for  drawing  off,  but  this  meth- 
od is  far  inferior  to  the  tap. 

Pressing  of  the  pomace  takes  place  directly 
the  fermenting  vat  is  empty,  to  obtain,  be- 
fore injury  can  take  place,  the  remainder  of 
the  wine  contained  in  it.  In  going  about  this 
work,  the  first  thing  to  be  attended  to  is  getting 
rid  of  the  body  of  carbonic  acid  gas  contained 
in  the  vessel,  because  it  might  injure  or  kill  the 
workmen.  This  is  done  by  agitating  a  green 
bough,  or  clothes,  sacks,  etc.,  in  the  interior  of 
the  vessel,  so  as  to  let  ordinary  air  in  and 
expel  the  carbonic  acid  gas.  When  that  has 
been  done,  the  workmen  empties  out  the  pom- 
ace, which  is  then  carried  to  the  press. 


70  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

When  the  wine  making  is  done  in  large  tuns 
with  man  holes,  the  drawing  off  is  done  in  the 
same  manner;  and  then  it  is  even  easier  to  ex- 
tract the  pomace,  for  it  can  be  done  with  a  rake 
through  the  man-hole;  and  afterwards,  when  a 
man  has  to  go  in  and  wash  out  the  residue,  care 
should  be  taken  that  the  gas  is  all  out,  and  the 
tun  full  of  ordinary  air.  or  he  may  die  from  as- 
phyxia. 


PRESSING  AND  VATTING. 


Red  wine  being  necessarily  always  fermented 
on  the  skins,  there  will  always  be  two  qualities, 
which  the  French  call  vin  de  youtte  (that  which 
is  drawn  off  through  the  tap) ,  and  vin-de-presse 
(that  which  is  forced  out  of  the  pomace  by 
pressing  it). 

For  this  purpose  there  are  many  different 
kinds  of  presses  in  use  in  different  wine  coun- 
tries. In  Portugal  the  kind  in  almost  universal 
use  is  what  is  called  vara  e  parofuso — beam  and 
screw — a  very  primitive  sort  of  a  machine,  oc- 
cupying much  room,  very  heavy,  and  not  very 
effective,  and  affords  no  advantage  beyond  the 
simplicity  of  construction,  and  facility  of  re- 
pair. I  would  advise  all  who  need  a  new  press 
to  obtain  one  of  the  modern  make,  of  which 
plenty  of  models  or  plans  may  be  seen,  while 
their  price  is  not  high.  Whatever  be  the  press 
used,  as  all  the  wine  contained  in  the  pomace 
is  not  squeezed  out  by  one  pressing,  and  as  it 
is  always  necessary  to  cut  and  mix  the  pomace 
three  or  four  times,  the  wine  which  ru>  s  out 
on  each  of  those  pressings  is  kept  separate,  and 
marked  as  first,  second,  and  third,  for  there  is 


72  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

difference  in  their  composition,  which  contains 
different  quantities  of  the  materials  yielded  by 
the  solid  portions  of  the  grapes.  The  first  press- 
ing generally  contains  the  most  alcohol,  tannin 
and  coloring  matters  in  solution;  the  others 
more  extractive  matters. 

Some  viniculturists  are  opposed  to  the  mixing 
of  any  pressings  with  the  wine,  as  they  consider 
them  to  interfere  with  its  fineness,  softness  and 
sweetness.  Others  again  contend  that  the 
pressing,  especially  the  first,  improve  and  give 
endurance,  color  and  consistency  to  the  bulk  of 
the  wine,  whilst  without  the  addition  it  would 
remain  too  soft  and  not  keep  well.  This  view 
is  favored  by  the  best  authorities,  and  has  the 
recommendation  of  being  in  general  use  in  the 
best  wine  districts. 

It  is  true  that  without  them  the  wine  ripens 
sooner,  and  becomes  fit  for  use;  but  then  there 
is  the  risk  of  its  not  keeping,  and  its  early  de- 
cay. On  the  other  hand,  the  result  of  mixing 
the  wine  with  one-fifth  or  one-sixth  of  the 
pressings  is  that  at  first  it  is  rougher  and  hard- 
er, but  it  always  keeps  better,  and  with  time 
loses  this  harshness,  which  is  disagreeable  only 
while  it  is  young.  The  good  properties  of  wine 
treated  in  this  manner  are  ascribed  to  the  larger 
amount  of  tannin  in  solution,  principally  that 
derived  from  the  seeds,  because  it  possesses 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  73 

the  property  of  precipitating  the  ferment,  which 
may  still  be  in  the  wine,  and  may  become  the 
cause  of  its  deterioration.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  is  beyond  all  doubt  advantageous  to 
add  a  portion  of  the  pressings  to  the  wine. 

In  order  that  the  mixing  may  be  properly 
done,  it  is  necessary  that  it  be  uniform.  If  all 
the  wine  of  one  fermenting  be  put  into  one  vat, 
it  should  be  of  such  capacity  as  to  hold  both 
the  wine  and  the  pressings,  especially  the  first 
pressings;  not  forgetting  that  it  is  always  use- 
ful to  set  aside  a  certain  quantity  of  the  same 
wine  in  a  small  cask,  to  be  used  for  filling  up, 
an  operation  which  it  is  not  proper  to  perform 
with  wine  of  a  different  quality.  When  the 
mixing  has  to  be  done  in  a  number  of  casks 
great  care  must  be  taken  to  preserve  the  same 
proportions  in  each,  so  that  the  bulk  may  prove 
uniform.  In  this  case  the  casks  are  filled  three 
parts  full,  reserving  one  third  for  pressings. 

In  Burgundy  and  in  the  Medoc  the  wines  are 
matured  in  barrels  of  280  litres  capacity  (60 
Imperial  gallons  nearly),  and  the  wine  is  dis- 
tributed so  evenly  through  them  that  each  one 
receives  an  equal  quantity  of  wine  from  the 
top,  middle  and  bottom  of  the  vat.  Of  the  first 
wine  which  runs  out  of  the  tap  and  which  cor- 
responds to  the  lowest  part  of  the  vat,  they 
put  equal  measures  into  each  hogshead,  one 


74  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

after  another,  and  so  of  all  the  rest  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  vat;  and  lastly  the  same  with  the 
pressings  till  they  are  all  full. 

Obviously  the  same  result  can  be  obtained, 
and  even  with  greater  certainty  that  it  will  be 
uniform,  by  making  the  mixture  in  a  sufficiently 
capacious  vat,  stirring  the  materials  thoroughly, 
and  after  a  few  hours  of  rest  to  allow  the  gross- 
er parts  to  fall  to  the  bottom,  draw  it  at  once 
into  the  casks  in  which  it  is  to  remain  till  the 
time  for  racking. 

What  I  have  just  said  about  mixing  the 
pressings  with  the  wine,  applies  in  a  general 
way  to  the  making  of  all  table  red  wines,  or 
pure  wines  of  food;  still,  as  this  question  is 
surrounded  with  many  conditions,  such  as  the 
nature  of  the  kind  of  grapes  used,  their  ripe- 
ness, the  state  of  the  stalks,  etc.  (enga$o),  and 
the  character  of  the  wine  we  wish  to  obtain,  it 
is  plain  that  the  viniculturist  should  attend  to 
all  these  points,  and  seek  in  experience  for  the 
best  plan  of  conducting  his  operations. 

Throughout  this  exposition  of  the  processes 
of  wine  making,  I  have  again  and  again  insisted 
on  the  necessity  of  absolute  cleanliness  and 
neatness  of  all  vessels,  utensils,  things  and  per- 
sons coming  in  contact  with  the  wine.  The 
majority  of  our  wine  makers  unwisely  underval- 
ue the  precautions  necessary  for  making  wine 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  75 

that  will  keep  and  mature  well;  and  I  cannot 
help  insisting  on  this  point  again  even  at  the 
risk  of  wearying  the  reader. 

The  general  precept  is  very  simple — whether 
in  bringing  in  the  grapes,  the  making  of  the 
wine,  or  in  its  after  manipulations  and  care, 
never  allow  to  be  used  any  utensils,  instruments 
or  vessels  which  have  not  been  w^ashed  scrupu- 
lously clean.  The  baskets  of  the  pickers,  the 
boxes  in  which  the  fruit  is  carried,  the  tubs 
and  carts  in  which  they  are  conveyed  to  the 
press  room,  the  tanks  or  benches  where  the 
crushing  takes  place,  the  presses,  buckets,  and 
other  vessels  used  in  carrying  the  wine,  the 
tubing  used  for  passing  the  must  into  the  vats, 
the  hoppers  and  funnels,  all  the  machinery,  the 
tuns,  pipes,  and  all  the  apparatus  of  what  kind 
soever  are  comprised  under  the  general  recom- 
mendation— they  all  need  washing  before  being 
used;  and  as  soon  as  the  wine  making  is  over, 
again  that  they  may  be  clean  and  sweet  for  the 
next  vintage.-  The  greatest  of  all  care  and  vig- 
ilance are  required  about  the  fermenting  vats 
and  vessels,  because  through  being  in  contact 
with  the  wine,  they  may  so  easily  communicate 
to  it  any  dangerous  matter  with  which  they  are 
foul,  from  which  may  arise,  not  alone  a  bad 
taste,  but  the  ruin  of  the  wine  in  the  future. 

New  wooden  vessels  of  all  kinds  ought  to  be 


76  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

well  scalded  with  boiling  water,  and  afterwards 
washed  in  cold  water,  before  being  used. 
Utensils  which  have  been  in  use  require  to  be 
thoroughly  examined  on  the  inside  if  they  have 
any  bad  smell,  and  if  they  impart  a  bad  taste 
to  the  water  when  washed;  if  the  staves  show 
stains  in  the  wood,  because  they  may  be  the 
earliest  indications  of  rotting,  or  any  other  de- 
fect, in  which  case  they  should  be  coopered 
and  planed,  and  afterward  washed  with  water 
containing  1-10  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  rolled 
about  so  as  to  bring  it  in  contact  with  every  bit 
of  the  inside;  and  afterward  washed  with  cold 
water  and  a  brush  until  the  last  trace  of  the 
acid  is  removed.  Some  employ  with  much  ad- 
vantage freshly  prepared  milk  of  lime,  always 
however  finishing  with  a  wash  of  cold  water, 
and  best  of  all — for  a  final  purifying,  a  rinse  with 
alcohol.  After  being  well  washed,  the  vessel 
should  be  dried  with  a  clean  cloth,  and  if  it  be 
not  to  be  used  right  there,  a  match  should  be 
burned  in  it  and  the  bung  driven  home.  This 
burning  of  a  sulphur  match  in  the  empty  casks 
should  be  repeated  every  six  months,  for  noth- 
ing is  more  efficacious  in  preserving  casks  from 
mildew. 

The  employment  of  good  spirit  to  wash  the 
casks  in  which  fine  wines  are  to  be  kept  is  very 
useful.  In  some  countries,  for  instance  in  Bur- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  77 

gundy,  they  use  wine  of  good  quality,  and  this 
is  sensible,  because  it  cannot  communicate  any 
foreign  taste  or  smell. 

Writers  on  the  treatment  of  wines  have  given 
a  host  of  receipts  for  cleansing  wine  casks  for 
maturing  wine,  but  I  see  no  need  of  reproduc- 
ing them  in  this  place,  convinced  as  I  am  that 
what  I  have  said  already  is  ample  for  this  part 
of  my  work,  if  it  only  be  faithfully  performed. 

Having  now  arrived  at  the  point  of  putting 
the  wine  into  casks,  let  us  see  what  care  is 
needful  for  the  complete  organization  of  the 
wine,  and  to  insure  its  ability  to  keep. 


CARE  NEEDED  BY  THE  WINE  AFTER 
IT  HAS  BEEN  PUT  IN  CASK. 


Whether  it  be  in  casks  of  great  capacity,  or 
of  medium  size,  or  in  pipes  or  barrels  that  the 
new  wine  is  put  for  keeping,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  leave  the  bung-hole  open  to  admit 
of  the  escape  of  gas  generated  by  fermentation, 
and  which  for  some  time  continues  in  the 
liquid. 

When  drawn  off  from  the  lees,  the  wine  al- 
ways contains  a  certain  portion  of  sugar  and 
ferment,  and  what  comes  from  the  press  has 
still  more.  The  aeration  which  the  wine  un- 
dergoes in  the  process  of  vatting  and  in  the 
press,  furnishes  a  sufficient  amount  of  oxygen  to 
impart  new  life  to  the  ferment,  which  soon  be- 
comes apparent  by  its  greater  or  less  activity, 
but  which  gradually  diminishes  till  the  bubbles 
of  gas  are  scarcely  perceptible.  As  long  as 
this  secondary  fermentation  continues,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  cover  the  bung-hole  with  paper, 
or,  better  still,  two  thicknesses  of  muslin,  to 
keep  dust  and  flies  out.  The  body  of  carbonic 
acid  gas  floating  on  the  surface  is  enough  to 
preserve  it  from  contact  with  the  oxygen  of  the 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  79 

air.  In  some  parts,  for  sake  of  greater  secu- 
rity, a  simple  tin  tube,  which  acts  as  a  hydrau- 
lic valve,  in  the  form  of  an  inverted  letter  CQ  ,  is 
adapted  to  the  bung-hole,  with  some  water  in 
the  curvature,  or  cotton  wool. 

When  there  is  no  longer  any  sign  of  fermen- 
tation, whether  because  all  the  sugar  has  been 
broken  up,  or  on  account  of  the  temperature 
having  become  too  low  for  fermentation  to  con- 
tinue, the  bung  ought  to  be  driven  home  to  ex- 
clude all  contact  with  air.  This  usually  hap- 
pens during  November.  Just  about  that  time, 
the  wine,  heretofore  more  or  less  turbid,  begins 
to  clear  itself  and  become  transparent.  They 
then  say  "  the  wane  is  made;"  yet  from  this 
point  onward  the  need  of  care  to  preserve  it  and 
perfect  its  organization  is  not  less  urgent. 

The  first  condition  to  be  attended  to,  is  the 
complete  exclusion  of  air,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  formation  on  the  surface  of  those  vegetable 
growths  or  flowers  which  precede  or  accompany 
the  acetic  fermentation,  and  other  changes 
wjiich  injuriously  affect  it.  In  order  to  effect 
this  exclusion  of  air,  it  is  indispensable  to  keep 
the  vessels  completely  full  to  the  bung.  The 
vigilance  should  know  no  bounds  on  this  point, 
most  of  all  during  the  first  period  of  its  life,  for 
either  indifference  or  carelessness  may  occasion 
serious  injury  which  later  on  will  show  itself, 
and  when  too  late  to  be  remedied. 


80  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

In  all  kinds  of  wooden  vessels,  two  causes 
concur  in  diminishing  the  volume  of  wine  con- 
tained in  them,  and  by  consequence  a  vacant 
space  which  the  air  soon  tills.  The  first  is  con- 
traction of  the  liquid  by  cold,  and  the  second 
evaporation  of  the  liquid  through  the  pores  of 
the  wood,  and  the  interstices  of  the  bung. 
This  last  cause  goes  on  all  the  time,  and  hence 
the  need  of  filling  up  at  very  short  intervals. 
During  the  first  months  it  is  necessary  to  fill  up 
at  least  once  a  week;  later  once  in  a  fortnight, 
and  lastly  once  a  month,  but  never  less.  After 
every  filling,  the  bung  should  be  wrapped  in  a 
clean  cloth  dipped  in  the  wine,  or  in  good 
brandy.  The  wine  used  to  fill  up  the  casks 
should  be  identically  the  same  as  that  which 
they  contain,  scrupulously  preserved  from  any 
alteration,  in  fact,  beyond  all  suspicion.  For 
this  purpose  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  same 
wine  should  be  stored  in  small  vessels  of  some 
convenient  kind  and  size;  but,  for  the  same 
reason  that  compels  us  to  keep  the  big  vessels 
full,  we  have  to  take  care  that  that  used  for 
filling  up  is  not  allowed  to  lie  in  contact  with 
air.  So  the  vintner  needs  to  make  his  calcu- 
lations how  best  to  comply  with  these  general 
instructions. 

In  proportion  to  the  number  and  capacity  of 
the  keeping  casks,  quantities  should  be  pro- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  81 

vided,  each  just  sufficient  for  one  filling  up. 
AVhere  the  quantity  is  small  it  is  best  to  have 
the  wine  in  bottles  to  avoid  loss  and  prevent 
injury.  This  is  the  practice  in  countries  where 
fine  wine  is  made  and  matured,  as  in  Burgundy 
and  the  Medoc,  where  it  is  kept  in  barrels  of 
only  228  litres. 

A  very  simple  and  effective  method  of  keep- 
ing the  casks  full  is  to  drop  in  perfectly  clean 
quartz  pebbles. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  reason  for  all 
these  precautions;  since  if  the  wine  used  for 
filling  up  were  not  of  the  same  quality,  or  con- 
tained any  principle  of  alteration,  it  is  clear 
the  disease  would  be  communicated  to  the 
whole. 

Later  on  when  the  wine  has  been  put  into 
pipes  or  smaller  casks,  and  when  it  is  conven- 
ient to  pile  them  one  upon  another,  and  it  be- 
comes difficult  to  keep  them  full,  the  proper 
course  is  to  place  them  with  the  bung  on  one 
side,  so  that  it  may  be  kept  moist  and  exclude 
air.  As  to  the  evaporation,  which  will  still  go 
on  through  the  pores  of  the  wood,  whatever 
space  is  formed  will  be  filled  by  vapors  of  the 
wine,  which  will  keep  out  air. 

The  aim  and  object  of  the  above  precautions 
is  to  preserve  the  mature  genuine  first-class 
red  wines;  for  those  are  the  most  liable  to  de- 

4A 


82  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

teriorate.  The  action  of  air,  aided  by  a  suffi- 
ciently high  temperature,  may  originate  second- 
ary fermentations,  and  internal  disturbances  at 
any  time,  until  the  wine  is  perfectly  formed  and 
freed  from  all  foreign  and  prejudicial  matters. 
For  the  keeping  of  such  wines  until  they  are 
ripe  for  bottling,  it  is  most  desirable  that  the 
temperature  of  the  keeping  cellars  should  not 
exceed  10°  centigrade,  or  50°  Fahrenheit. 


RACKING  AND  CLARIFYING. 


Backings  and  clarifying,  with  albuminous  or 
other  materials  in  place  of  it,  are  operations 
called  for  in  order  to  remove  the  Jees  and  solid 
matters  which  might  interfere  with  its  keeping 
qualities.  Both  of  those  operations  belong  to 
the  class  of  attentions  which  wine  demands 
during  its  earliest  periods,  after  being  placed 
in  cask,  and  they  contribute  much  towards  its 
completion. 

When  the  wine  is  drawn  into  casks  it  is  al- 
ways muddy,  and  continues  so  as  long  as  fer- 
mentation continues.  But  when  it  has  quite 
ceased,  about  the  beginning  of  the  winter  colds, 
it  becomes  limpid  and  transparent,  and  deposits 
whatever  solid  matter  it  had  held  in  solution. 
This  is  what  we  call  lees.  These  lees  contain, 
among  other  things,  the  residue  of  the  ferment, 
now  inactive;  minute  fibres  from  the  pulp  of 
the  berries;  bi-tartarate  of  potassa,  which  be- 
comes insoluble  as  the  alcohol  is  formed  in  the 
liquid.  In  the  lees  may  also  be  found  the  germs 
of  organic  life,  which  under  favoiable  conditions 
may  give  rise  to  those  several  kinds  of  ferment- 
ations which  cause  the  diseases  of  wine. 


84  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

As  long  as  the  temperature  remains  low  the 
germs  lie  dormant,  and  the  presence  of  the  lees 
does  the  wine  no  harm,  but  as  soon  as  it  rises 
to  a  degree  of  warmth  favorable  to  fermentation 
they  rise  in  the  wine,  which  again  becomes  tur- 
bid, "  kicks  up,"  and  is  often  hopelessly  lost. 
Common  sense  points  straight  to  the  removal 
of  all  danger  from  the  above  source,  as  soon  as 
ever  the  conditions  are  favorable.  Racking 
alone  can  effect  it. 

Sometimes  the  wine  does  not  clear  early,  and 
now  and  then  it  remains  turbid,  holding  in  sus- 
pension permanently  solid  foreign  matters.  In 
these  cases  it  is  necessary  to  force  such  matters 
to  deposit.  The  means  usually  had  i  ecourse  to 
for  this  purpose  and  found  to  be  the  safest  and 
most  efficient,  is  clarifying  with  isinglass,  or 
gelatine,  or  white  of  eggs,  or  other  substance 
having  similar  properties,  which,  upon  being 
introduced  into  the  wine  and  uniformly  distrib- 
uted through  it,  becomes  more  or  less  solidified 
by  the  action  of  the  alcohol  and  .tannin,  form- 
ing as  it  were  a  net,  which,  as  it  sinks  toward 
the  bottom,  drags  the  suspended  matters  with 
it,  leaving  the  liquid  clear  and  bright.  In  the- 
ory this  is  "clarification  by  albuminous  mat- 
ters." Let  us  now  see  how  and  when  each  of 
the  above  substances  will  be  found  best  to  use, 
when  we  have  to  employ  them.  In  most  cases, 


VINIGUL  TURE  -OF  CLA RET.  85 

and  principally  in  the  instance  of  red  wines, 
which  is  the  chief  matter  of  which  I  am  at 
present  treating,  racking  is  indispensable,  and 
should  be  done  as  soon  as  the  wine  has  depos- 
ited its  lees.  As  this  occurs  during  the  cold 
weather  of  winter,  and  as  with  warm  weather 
of  spring  will  start  fermentation,  the  racking 
ought  to  be  all  over  before  it  sets  in.  March 
is  the  month  when  it  most  usually  is  done,  for 
then  the  weather  is  cold,  clear  and  serene. 

Necessary  as  it  is  to  rack,  a  moment's  consid- 
eration will  suffice  to  show  that  neither  the  ex- 
act time  when  it  should  take  place,  nor  how 
often  it  should  be  repeated.  The  nature  of  the 
wine,  the  conditions  under  which  it  was  made, 
and  the  state  of  the  weather — all  may  modify 
the  periods  for  racking. 

Wines  loaded  with  much  ferment  and  foreign 
matters,  if  the  weather  be  fine  in  early  winter — 
November  or  December  —  should  then  have 
a  first  racking.  This  racking,  however,  has  not 
to  prevent  a  second  before  the  opening  of 
spring,  because  this  is  indispensable  in  the 
case  of  all  wines  in  order  to  protect  them  against 
the  first  warm  weather  of  spring,  as  also  at  the 
time  when  the  vine  breaks  bud,  for  at  that  time 
they  almost  always  show  signs  of  internal  com- 
motion. 

The  same  disturbance  appears  to  be  renewed 


86  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

when  the  vine  is  in  bloom,  and  again  when  the 
grapes  begin  to  change  color  in  August.  In 
very  hot  years,  and  in  exceptional  cases,  it  may 
be  desirable  to  rack  in  the  latter  end  of  June, 
chiefly  if  the  work  was  badly  done  in  March,  or 
not  at  all. 

Backing  becomes  all  the  more  indispensable 
when  the  wines  are  poor  and  defectively  made. 
All  the  ordinary  ones,  especially  in  bad  years, 
demand  at  least  two  rackings,  the  first  one  be- 
ing preceded  by  a  fining  with  isinglass  or  other 
matter,  which  will  be  treated  of  later  on. 

Fine  alcoholic  wines  made  with  very  ripe 
grapes,  with  much  sugar  and  little  ferment, 
and  which  consequently  deposit  little  lees,  may 
need  only  one  racking,  at  the  end  of  winter. 

The  operation  of  which  we  are  treating,  in 
order  to  be  beneficial  and  safe,  requires  a  cer- 
tain number  of  precautions  and  cares  to  be  at- 
tended to  with  all  vigilance. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  proper  that  the  wine 
should  be  clear  and  that  lees  should  have  com- 
pletely settled  to  the  bottom.  When 'this  has 
not  taken  place  by  the  time  when  we  judge  the 
racking  ought  to  take  place,  then  we  must  re- 
cur to  previous  clarification. 

For  racking  we  ought  to  choose  a  time  when 
the  weather  is  clear,  dry  and  cold,  with  a  north 
wind,  if  possible;  because  then  the  whole  body 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  87 

of  the  wine  is  tranquil,  the  air  pure,  and  there 
is  little  chance  of  hurtful  germs  being  introduc- 
ed into  the  wine.  On  the  other  hand,  rainy, 
blustery,  stormy  weather,  and  the  winds  from 
the  south  (in  the  northern  parts  of  Portugal) 
are  not  favorable  to  a  good  racking.  Experts 
affirm  that  the  best  time  for  it  is  early  in  the 
morning. 

It  is  quite  essential  that  as  far  as  possible  no 
air  should  be  allowed  to  come  in  contact  with 
the  wine  during  racking,  particularly  in  the 
case  of  delicate  wines,  and  of  no  great  body. 
The  method  commonly  in  use  in  Portugal  has 
been  to  insert  a  tap  in  the  cask  a  little  higher 
than  where  it  is  supposed  the  lees  have  settled ; 
draw  the  wine  into  buckets  and  pass  it  into 
another  cask  previously  sulphured.  As  soon  as 
ever  the  wine  comes  over  turbid,  stop;  and  put 
the  thick  wine  and  lees  into  a  vessel  apart. 
Part  of  the  turbid  wine  may  be  clarified  after- 
wards, and  the  lees  used  for  distillation. 

In  doing  the  work  this  way,  it  is  impossible 
to  prevent  contact  with  the  air,  and  the  loss  of 
some  portion  of  the  brandy  and  aromatic  ele- 
ments' and  on  this  account  many  fear  to  rack 
wines  which  are  naturally  weak,  or  which  are 
unusually  delicate.  The  danger,  however,  will 
be  greater  from  leaving  them  on  the  lees,  than 
from  exposing  them  to  the  loss  of  some  alcohol 


88  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

and  perfume;  which,  however,  need  not  be  lost 
if  the  method  I  am  going  to  describe  be  adopt- 
ed— one  which  is  in  general  use  in  the  most 
celebrated  wine  districts  of  France.  The  cask 
which  has  to  receive  the  clean  wine,  is  placed 
close  to  the  one  from  which  we  are  about  to 
rack.  In  a  hole  made  in  this  latter,  we  fix  a 
straight  tap,  to  which  is  fastened  a  flexible  tube 
of  leather  or  rubber.  To  the  other  end  of  it, 
another  straight  tap  is  secured,  which  is  fixed 
in  a  corre'sponding  hole  of  the  empty  cask. 
When  a  vent-hole  has  been  made  in  each,  to  al- 
low the  passage  of  air,  and  both  of  the  taps  have 
been  opened,  the  wine  will  run  into  the  empty 
cask  till  it  reaches  the  level  in  each.  In  order 
to  force  the  rest  of  the  wine  into  the  clean  cask, 
and  out  of  the  other,  they  fix  securely  in  the 
bung-hole  a  special  kind  of  bellows.  The  air, 
compressed  in  the  cask,  acting  on  the  surface 
of  the  liquid,  forces  it  to  enter  the  other  cask. 
When  they  hear  a  sort  of  whistling  noise  in  the 
tube,  indicating  that  air  is  entering,  both  of 
the  taps  are  closed,  and  withdrawn.  The  rest 
of  the  wine  and  lees  are  drawn  off  into  a  buck- 
et. By  this  process,  which  in  practice  is  sim- 
pler then  it  appears  in  the  description,  espec- 
ially as  to  the  tubes  and  bellows,  the  racking  is 
done  without  difficulty,  without  allowing  the 
air  to  exert  any  notable  influence  on  the  liquor: 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  89 

and  effectually  preventing  the  loss  of  spirit  and 
perfume. 

Racking  can  also  be  done  with  a  syphon  or  a 
pump,  but  with  less  advantage  and  more  risk 
than  by  the  method  I  have  explained,  especial- 
ly when  the  casks  are  small  or  middle  sized. 
When  racking  has  to  be  done  from  one  great 
vessel  to  another  of  equal  size,  the  bellows  can- 
not be  used,  but  an  appliance  devised  by  M. 
Laburthe  can.  It  is,  of  course,  an  easy  matter 
to  rack  off  wine  from  a  great  vat  or  tun,  into 
casks.  We  have  to  take  notice  however,  that 
wines  of  high  quality  gain  much  by  being  kept 
in  the  casks  into  which  they  were  first  drawn. 
To  this  end,  as  soon  as  the  cask  is  emptied, 
carefully  washed  and  sulphured,  the  wine 
should  be  returned  to  it,  the  same  precautions 
and  appliances  being  used  as  in  the  racking. 
In  Burgundy  and  in  the  Medoc,  wines  of  high 
price  and  estimation  are  always  drawn  from  the 
fermenting  vats  into  new  barrels  of  228  litres, 
so  that  when  the  racking  and  clarifying  have 
been  done,  they  may  be  returned  into  them. 
In  them  they  are  sold,  and  the  price  of  the  cask 
is  added  to  that  of  the  wine. 


ON  CLARIFYING. 


When  wine  by  simple  racking  becomes  lim- 
pid, transparent  and  ' '  candle-bright, ' '  there  is 
no  need  of  clarifying;  but  this  rarely  happens, 
and  the  wines,  even  after  being  well  racked  and 
at  a  proper  season,  fall  still  short  of  being  quite 
clear  and  bright,  on  account  of  minute  matters 
still  held  in  suspension,  and  which  must  be  got 
out,  because  sooner  or  later  they  may  injure 
the  wine. 

It  is  just  as  impossible  to  state  any  fixed  times 
when  wine  should  be  clarified  as  when  it  should 
be  racked.  Common  sense  must  be  used  about 
the  condition  and  age  of  the  wine,  the  state  of 
the  weather  and  other  circumstances.  At  any 
time  after  the  racking,  if  the  wine  be  not  bright, 
it  may  be  clarified  if  the  weather  is  cool  and 
clear,  and,  under  any  circumstances,  when  the 
wine  has  to  be  either  exported  or  bottled,  it 
ought  to  be  clarified.  During  their  first  year 
all  wines  require  at  least  one  clarifying,  and 
those  made  from  bad  grapes  or  in  a  bad  season, 
that  have  an  excess  of  ferment  and  clear  with 
difficulty,  demand  clarification  absolutely.  But, 
above  all  others,  wines  which  have  a  natural 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  91 

tendency  to  "kick  about,"  as  we  commonly 
say,  require  rigorous  clarification  after  their 
first  racking. 

Artificial  clarifying  accomplishes,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  same  effect  as  would  be  if  the 
wine  were  filtered  through  paper.  But  as  this 
cannot  be  done  without  ruin  to  the  wine,  we 
prepare  a  substance  of  some  kind  which  will 
quietly  fall  through  the  wine  and  accomplish 
the  same  purpose.  Many  different  substances 
may  be  employed  for  this  purpose.  .The  more 
generally  used,  however,  are  whites  of  eggs, 
consisting  mainly  of  albuminous  matters;  isin- 
glass or  albumen,  of  which  there  are  several 
varieties;  the  blood  of  bullocks  or  sheep,  which 
contain  matters  that  coagulate,  such  as  albu- 
men and  fibrin;  fresh  milk,  which  contains  the 
curd  also  coagulable:  and  many  artificially  pre- 
pared substances,  prepared  expressly  for  clari- 
fying wine — all  of  which  have  more  or  less  the 
properties  just  mentioned. 

It  is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  indifference 
which  of  these  substances  is  to  be  employed, 
for  the  one  selected  may  either  clarify  well  or 
not  at  all,  or  yet,  what  is  still  worse,  leave  be- 
hind it  injurious  matters. 

I  have  always  found  it  advantageous,  just  be- 
fore racking  in  March,  to  determine  the  alco- 
holic strength,  and  again  after  it;  so  that  if 


92  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

there  have  been  any  loss,  it  may  be  restored  by 
the  addition  of  some  good  brandy,  or  enough 
to  leave  it  very  slightly  in  excess. 

What  I  have  already  said  about  the  advan- 
tage and  even  necessity  of  separating  the  clean 
wine  from  the  lees  is  always  applicable  to  pure, 
genuine  wines  for  the  table.  This  refers  main- 
ly to  red  wines,  but  there  are  special  cases  where 
a  wine  may  be  benefited  by  being  for  a  time 
left  to  lie  on  the  lees,  at  least  as  long  as  the 
processes  of  its  formation  are  progressing. 
This  has  special  application  in  the  instance  of 
white  wines,  for  they  are  not  fermented  on  the 
stalks  and  skins ;  and  we  have  found  in  many  of 
our  provinces  that  rolling  the  casks  repeatedly, 
and  mixing  lees  and  wine  thoroughly,  is  good 
practice.  It  is  the  weak,  thin  white  wines,  and 
even  the  more  spirituous,  which,  from  different 
reasons,  are  benefited  by  this  mixing  through 
them  of  the  lees  during  their  first  year.  I  have 
alluded  to  the  advantage,  and,  in  most  cases, 
the  necessity  of  artificial  clarification  of  new 
wines;  let  us  now  inquire  into  the  conditions  of 
how  and  when  it  should  be  done. 

For  clarifying  red  wines,  nothing  appears  to 
surpass  the  whites  of  new-laid  eggs;  for  white 
wines,  pure  white  gelatine,  or  isinglass  is  pre- 
ferred. 

Albumen,  which  forms  an  essential  part  of  the 


VINICULTURE  OF 


whites  of  eggs,  and  which  we  find  in  bullock's 
blood,  is  a  substance  which  without  alteration 
of  its  composition,  can  exist  under  two  forms. 
It  may  be  either  soluble  or  insoluble.  In  fresh 
eggs  it  is  in  the  soluble  form  (can  be  mixed 
perfectly  with  water).  When  heated  to  75  C.,  or 
about  180  F.,  it  becomes  fixed,  and  can  no 
longer  be  dissolved  in  water.  But  it  is  not 
alone  heat  which  coagulates  albumen;  alcohol, 
tannin,  strong  free  acids,  and  other  chemical 
substances  coagulate  albumen,  whether  pure  or 
dissolved  out  in  water. 

Gelatine,  which  forms  the  different  sorts  of 
the  glue  of  commerce,  is  not  very  soluble  in  cold 
water.  It  softens  and  swells  up,  but  it  dissolves 
readily  in  warm  water,  and  forms  a  jelly.  The 
solution  is  coagulated  by  alcohol,  which  throws 
it  down.  Tannin  forms  an  insoluble  compound 
with  it,  and  therefore  precipitates  it  from  its 
solutions. 

In  view  of  these  properties  of  albumen  and 
gelatine,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  how 
they  act  in  the  process  of  clarifying  wine.  It 
holds  in  solution  alcohol  and  tannin.  Where 
solutions  of  albumen  or  gelatine  are  mixed  in 
matters  like  wine,  containing  alcohol  and  tan- 
nin, they  form  a  kind  of  membraneous  net, 
which,  little  by  little,  contracts  and  gathers  up 
whatever  matters  they  find  in  suspension,  and 


94  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

by  their  united  weight,  drag  them  to  the  bottom 
of  the  vessel,  and  of  course,  after  a  while,  leav- 
ing the  liquid  clean  and  bright. 

As  already  said,  the  white  of  eggs  is  the  most 
convenient  for  clarifying  red  wines  generally. 
It  is  the  only  substance  which  should  be  used 
in  clarifying  red  wines  of  high  character,  for 
about  its  purity  there  can  be  no  question, 
neither  does  it  introduce  any  dangerous  foreign 
substance.  Ordinarily  the  whites  of  two  or 
three  eggs  suffice  for  one  hecolitre  of  wine 
(about  26  gallons).  The  whites  of  the  eggs 
should  be  quite  free  from  any  yolk;  then  in  a 
suitable  dish  or  other  vessel,  beaten  up  with 
some  water  and  clean  salt,  into  a  froth.  Then 
after  drawing  off  some  quarts  of  the  wine  to  be 
clarified,  into  a  bucket,  the  eggs  are  first  added 
to  it,  and  the  whole  thoroughly  incorporated 
with  a  piece  of  clean  wood,  flattened  at  the  end, 
and  a  cross  piece  attached  to  the  end,  so  as  to 
make  the  mixture  as  uniform  as  possible.  This 
mixture  is  then  poured  into  the  cask  of  wine  to 
be  clarified,  stirred  well  in  it  with  a  suitable 
wooden  implement,  and  left  at  rest  for  a  num- 
ber of  days,  more  or  less,  in  accordance  with 
the  size  of  the  cask.  If  the  clarifying  has  been 
done  in  a  "pipe,"  at  the  end  of  eight  or  ten 
days,  the  sediment  will  have  fallen  to  the  bot- 
tom, and  the  time  has  come  for  the  second 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  95 

racking.  The  salt  employed  lias  the  advantage 
of  favoring  the  solubility,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  division  and  distribution  of  the  albumen 
through  the  body  of  the  liquid,  and  produces  a 
more  gentle  and  effective  coagulation  of  the 
suspended  impurities:  for  itself  is  insoluble  in 
wine,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  acts  as  a  pre- 
ventive against  alteration,  corruption,  or  fer- 
mentation of  the  deposited  lees. 

From  what  has  been  said  concerning  the 
manner  in  which  the  clarification  is  effected, 
one  might  conclude  that  all  that  is  necessary 
would  be  to  mix  the  whites  of  the  eggs,  pre- 
pared as  above,  with  the  wine  at  the  top  of  the 
cask  or  tun;  and  this  would  appear  to  be  an 
advantage  in  the  c  :se  of  very  large  vessels. 

[X.  B.  This  is  theory,  and  needs  practical 
confirmation,  especially  as  to  the  shape  of  the 
casks  or  tuns  to  be  clarified. —  Translator.] 

Clarification  with  gelatine,  or  other  analagous 
substances  met  with  in  commerce,  is  certainly 
very  effective;  but  before  speaking  of  the  meth- 
ods of  using  it,  it  seems  desirable  to  say  a  few 
words  concerning  considerations  which  should 
guide  us  in  their  employment. 

The  essential  condition  of  a  good  fermenta- 
tion is  the  formation  of  that  kind  of  a  membra- 
neous net,  which  contracting  itself  in  the  liquid, 


96  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

can  lay  hold  on  and  carry  down  the  impurities 
and  germs  of  fermentation  suspended  in  it. 
Now  all  sorts  of  gelatine  are  not  equally  effica- 
cious in  producing  these  effects,  and  nnt  a  few 
of  them,  on  account  of  being  badly  made,  dirty, 
or  not  fresh,  may  impart  dangerous  matters  to 
the  wine. 

The  gelatine  obtained  by  prolonged  boiling 
of  animal  skins,  and  other  animal  tissues,  which 
furnish  the  white  gelatine  of  the  painters,  does 
not  satisfy  the  requirements  just  mentioned, 
and  is  useless  for  clarifying  wine.  Still  this 
same,  when  once  perfectly  dried,  constitutes  the 
strong  gelatine,  when  free  from  bad  taste  and 
smell,  may  be  used,  and  is  frequently  used  with 
advantage  in  clarifying  wines  containing  an  ex- 
cess of  tannin.  Since  it  precipitates  tannin,  it 
softens  the  wine,  as  well  as  clarifies  it. 

The  quantity  commonly  employed  is  20 
grams  (about  8  ounces)  of  the  dry  gelatine  to 
about  26  gallons  of  wine;  but  of  course  this  is 
a  matter  to  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  oper- 
ator, since  the  wine  may  be  very  muddy,  or 
nearly  bright.  There  are  varieties  of  gelatine 
so  white  and  fine,  that  as  much  as  35  grams  per 
hectolitre  might  safely  be  used;  and  with  such 
gelatine  even  fine  wines  may  be  clarified.  The 
process  employed  differs  little  from  that  em- 
ployed in  the  use  of  albumen.  The  gelatine 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  97 

broken  into  small  bits,  is  put  to  soak  in  a  little 
water;  after  a  time  a  slow  heat  is  applied;  then 
it  is  thoroughly  mixed  with  a  small  but  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  wine,  drawn  from  the  cask,  and 
then  this  mixture  is  put  into  the  wine  to  be 
cleaned,  when  the  cask  is  to  be  closed  and  left 
to  rest. 

The  variety  known  in  commerce  as  the  fish 
gelatine  (isinglass),  obtained  from  the  air  blad- 
ders of  certain  kinds  of  fish,  notably  the  stur- 
geon, is  far  preferable  to  the  gelatines,  however 
pure  they  may  be,  but  above  all  in  clarifying 
delicate  white  wines  containing  but  little  tannin. 

This  substance  does  the  clarifying  independ- 
ently of  any  action  on  tannin,  keeping  its  mem- 
braneous form,  even  when  very  much  diluted, 
and  acting  mechanically;  being  contracted  by 
the  alcohol,  and  falling  through  the  wine  with- 
out robbing  it  of  anything  which  constitutes  its 
body.  It  is  however  used  cautiously,  not  more 
than  20  grams  to  a  pipe,  or  about  4  grams 
to  the  hectolitre.  It  must  be  finely  cut,  soaked 
with  a  little  water  for  a  few  hours,  then  well 
broken  up  with  the  hands,  or  in  a  collander, 
diluted  with  some  wine  in  a  bottle  or  flask,  and 
and  then  used  for  clarifying  in  the  ordinary 
way. 

Clarifying  with  the  blood  of  bullocks  or 
sheep,  does  its  work  with  energy,  but  it  is  nev- 
5 


98  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

er  employed  except  to  clarify  very  ordinary 
wines,  because  they  nearly  always  leave  behind 
them  a  sickly  taste,  and  throw  down  a  heavy 
deposit.  When  it  is  used  at  all,  it  should  be 
sparingly,  and  always  with  quite  fresh  blood. 

The  powders  and  artificial  preparations  for 
clarifying  wines,  whose  composition  is  held  a 
secret,  offered  in  commerce,  have  as  their  prin- 
cipal component  or  base,  dried  albumen  obtain- 
from  the  serum  of  animal  blood.  They  offer 
no  advantage  over  the  means  already  spoken 
about  which  could  counterbalance  the  risk  of 
deception. 

Over  and  above  the  animal  materials,  there 
has  been  a  mineral  substance  pointed  out,  which 
can  be  easily  obtained,  and  in  sufficient  purity 
for  clarifying  wines  without  risk  of  any  kind. 
This  is  alumina  in  the  gelatinous  state,  which 
is  prepared  by  decomposing  a  solution  of  com- 
mon alum  by  an  alkali  (soda,  potassa  or  ammo- 
nia), and  thoroughly  washing  with  pure  water 
the  gelatinous  precipitate  formed.  This  gela- 
tinous alumina  is  insoluble  both  in  water  and 
wine,  but  it  can  be  easily  mixed  through  the 
body  of  liquid  by  agitation,  when  it  will  fall  to 
the  bottom  and  draw  the  impurities  along  with 
it.  It  has,  however,  the  property  of  absorbing 
coloring  matters,  with  which  it  forms  lakes;  so 
its  employment  in  red  wine,  at  least,  will  al- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  99 

ways  be  attended  with  loss  of  color.  Since  it 
also  forms  an  insoluble  compound  with  tannin, 
it  will  necessarily  diminish  the  roughness  of  the 
wine.  As  yet  it  has  not  been  adopted  in  gen- 
eral practice,  and  the  most  I  can  say  for  it  at 
present  is  that  it  should  be  used  only  in  an  ex- 
perimental way  and  with  much  precaution. 

We  observe  sometimes  how  wine  will  not 
clarify  even  when  the  best  means  have  been 
employed.  Now,  the  cause  might  be  a  move- 
ment of  fermentation  going  on  in  the  liquid,  or 
a  deficiency  of  those  substances  which  are  in- 
dispensable for  precipitating  the  albumen  or 
gelatine — that  is,  a  want  of  alcohol  and  of  tan- 
nin. In  either  case  we  must  not  go  on  adding 
more  albumen  or  gelatine.  Since  clarification 
requires  the  liquid  to  be  perfectly  tranquil,  it 
is  clear  that  if  any  fermentation  is  going  on  the 
clarifying  materials  have  no  chance.  In  such  a 
case  it  is  best  to  rack  the  wine  into  a  well  sul- 
phured cask,  and  wait  till  all  signs  of  ferment- 
ing have  disappeared,  selecting  for  the  purpose 
cool,  clear  weather.  This  supposes  the  ferment- 
ation to  be  alcoholic,  for  if  not  that,  then  the 
wine  is  diseased,  and  other  means  have  to  be 
availed  of,  concerning  which  I  intend  to  trea,t 
later  on. 

If  the  clarifying  matter  is  ineffective  on  ac- 
count of  the  weakness  of  the  wine,  the  best  thing 


100  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

to  be  done  is  to  rack  it  as  before  said,  and  when 
clarifying  is  again  undertaken,  at  the  very  time 
of  doing  it,  to  give  the  wine  a  fair  dose  of  bran- 
dy and  tannin,  proportionate  to  the  amount  of 
clarifying  matter  used,  and  for  this  purpose  it 
would  be  well  to  make  an  experiment  or  two  in 
a  graduated  glass  or  tube.  The  best  solution 
of  tannin,  or  at  any  rate  the  most  easily  pre- 
pared for  this  purpose,  is  got  by  soaking  grape 
seeds  in  good  brandy,  a  quantity  of  which  should 
be  always  at  hand  in  the  cellar,  for  it  comes  in 
useful  in  other  cases  to  be  treated  of  later. 

To  resume.  Clarifying  having  for  its  object 
to  remove  out  of  wine  impurities  which  might 
injure  it,  especially  the  germs  of  fermentation, 
which  might  alter  its  constitution,  is  a  very  nec- 
essary operation,  and  above  all  indispensable 
for  the  preservation  of  fine  delicate  wines. 
There  is  nothing  either  difficult  or  expensive 
about  it.  Whites  of  eggs,  gelatine  and  isin- 
glass are  the  substances  ordinarily  employed, 
with  the  best  results.  The  two  first  are  used  to 
clarify  red  wines,  the  last  for  delicate  white 
wines.  The  clarifying  should  be  done  in  bright 
serene  weather,  and,  when  possible,  in  cold 
weather  after  racking.  Immediately  the  wine 
is  clarified,  and  the  matters  well  settled  in  the 
bottom  of  the  cask,  it  is  proper  to  rack  it  again. 
During  all  the  time,  while  clarifying  is  in 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  101 

progress,  the  wine  should  remain  perfectly  still 
and  undisturbed,  not  alone  as  to  the  liquid  in 
the  cask,  but  any  blows  or  shocks  on  the  out- 
side. 

With  suitable  rackings,  with  opportune  and 
rigorous  clarifying,  and  with  carefully  attend- 
ing to  filling  up,  the  wine  will  be  in  good  con- 
dition, will  keep  on  improving,  and  acquiring 
the  best  qualities  that  its  nature  is  capable  of 
developing  as  time  passes. 


SULPHURING. 


Already  on  several  previous  occasions  I  have 
pointed  out  the  necessity  of  purifying  casks, 
etc.,  by  burning  a  sulphur  match  in  them  be- 
fore filling  wine  into  them,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  occasions  of  racking.  Sulphuring 
is  a  powerful  help  in  maintaining  the  health 
and  keeping  properties  of  wines,  and  on  that 
account  it  may  be  desirable  here  to  enter  some- 
what into  details. 

Sulphuring  by  burning  a  match  dipped  in 
sulphur,  or  sulphur  alone,  it  matters  not  which, 
may  be  useful  under  two  points  of  view,  either 
for  sweetening  the  casks,  since  it  will  absorb 
oxygen  and  kill  fungoid  germs,  or  to  arrest  al- 
coholic fermentation  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time,  or  suspend  fermentation  of  the  sugar. 
The  first  case  is  the  most  general,  for  it  is  ap- 
plicable to  all  wines  whatsoever;  the  second 
finds  its  use  in  making  certain  kinds  of  white 
wine,  in  which  the  aim  is  to  preserve  an  excess 
of  sweetness,  by  its  protecting  the  sugar  against 
the  ferment. 

The  theory  of  its  operations  is  of  its  own  nat- 
ure very  simple.  When  sulphur  is  burned,  in 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  103 

presence  of  oxygen  the  two  combine  and  form 
a  colorless  gas,  which  cannot  be  breathed,  and 
which  has  a  suffocating  smell.     We  call  it  sul- 
phurous acid.     This  gas  is  readily  soluble  in 
water  and  in  wine,  and  after  being  formed  it 
possesses  the  power  in  the  presence  of  water  or 
moisture  to  absorb  still  more  oxygen,  becoming 
converted  into  sulphuric  acid,  commonly  called 
"oil  of  vitriol."     Hence  we  see  that  when  sul- 
phur is  burned  in  a  cask  or  any  closed  vessel  or 
place,  it  first  lays  hold  upon  the  oxygen  of  the 
air ,  leaving  sulphurous  acid  in  its  place .  In  air  so 
deprived  of  oxygen,  and  in  presence  of  sulphur- 
ous acid,  it  is  impossible  for  those  lower  forms 
of  organisms  to  live,  such  as  the  mycoderms 
and  cryptogamic  vegetations,  which  are  vulgarly 
called  mildew,  mould,  and  ferments,  properly  so 
called.     Even  in  solution  sulphurous  gas  kills 
them  and  stops  all  fermentation.    If,  by  absorb- 
ing more   oxygen,  it  becomes   sulphuric  acid, 
this  exerts  a  corrosive  action  on  those  minute 
bodies.     When  a  cask  has  been  emptied  and 
not  washed  for  a  few  days,  its  inside  will  be 
found  covered  with  mildew,  imparting  to  it  a 
bad  smell,  starting  in  the  direction  of  rotting 
the  wood  itself,  and  rendering  it  unfit  to  hold 
wine,  for  it  would   certainly  be  ruined.     The 
way  to  prevent  this  is  to  sulphur  as  soon  as 
the  cask  is  emptied  of  lees,  and  has  been  well 
washed. 


104  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

For  sulphuring  we  prepare  matches,  which 
are  strips  of  linen,  cotton  or  paper,  25  centime- 
tres long,  and  5  centimetres  broad,  more  or  less, 
which  we  dip  in  melted  sulphur,  and  hang  up 
to  drain.  When  we  use  them  we  attach  a  length 
of  wire,  light  the  match  and  lower  it  into  about 
the  middle  of  the  cask.  While  it  continues  to 
burn  the  bung  hole  should  be  closed,  and  the 
wire  secured  on  the  outside.  A  bung  with  wire 
already  attached  is  a  convenience.  In  with- 
drawing it,  care  should  be  taken  not  to  drop 
the  ashes,  as  they  might  possibly  affect  the  taste 
of  the  wine.  A  portion  of  a  match,  of  10  or  12 
superficial  square  centimetres,  is  enough  to 
sulphur  a  pipe.  In  the  case  of  sulphuring 
large  vats,  tuns,  etc.,  burn  the  sulphur  in  an 
iron,  or  porcelain  capsule,  properly  secured  to 
a  wire,  which  may  be  once  or  twice  raised  up 
and  down. 

When  we  go  to  rack,  110  time  should  be  lost 
when  the  sulphuring  is  finished,  in  pouring  the 
wine  in  while  all  the  fumes  are  there;  otherwise 
the  benefit  is  not  only  lost,  but  it  might  prove 
injurious;  because  the  sulphurous  acid,  coming 
in  contact  with  the  damp  sides  of  the  cask, 
would  be  converted  into  sulphuric  acid,  and 
impart  a  bad  taste  to  the  wine  afterwards. 

When  however  we  sulphur  empty  casks  to 
keep  them  sweet,  we  drive  the  bung  tight  while 
all  the  fumes  are  in  them,  and  leave  it  so  till 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  105 

needed  for  use;  and  then  before  using  them, 
they  should  lirst  be  well  washed,  to  remove  any 
taste  that  might  have  been  caused  by  the  old 
sulphuring. 

We  observe  occasionally  that  the  match  will 
not  burn  inside  a  cask  which  has  been  used  for 
some  time.  This  is  caused  by  the  bad  condi- 
tion of  the  staves  on  the  inside;  because  some 
or  all  are  in  a  state  of  decay,  or  covered  with 
mildew,  or  other  form  of  change,  which  had 
absorbed  the  oxygen,  for  in  air  without  oxygen 
sulphur  will  not  burn.  It  is  in  such  case  nec- 
essary first  to  fill  the  cask  with  air  by  using 
bellows,  or  by  any  other  method,  the  best  of 
which  would  be  to  make  the  cooper  take  out 
the  head  and  examine  it. 

Sulphuring  becomes  of  very  much  use,  when- 
ever we  have  to  keep  a  cask  not  quite  full.  In 
all  such  instances  the  oxygen  of  the  air  tends  di- 
rectly to  cause  change;  mycoderms  develop,  or 
the  flour  of  wine  and  of  vinegar ;  generally  it  turns 
sour  and  is  lost.  Up  to  a  certain  point,  this 
may  be  obviated  by  burning  a  match  in  the 
empty  space,  and  then  turning  the  cask  so  that 
the  bung  shall  be  covered  by  the  wine. 

When  we  wish  to  stop  fermentation  in  wine 
or  must  by  sulphuring,  it  is  necessary  to  actual- 
ly saturate  the  liquid  with  sulphurous  acid  gas, 
which  cannot  be  done  by  burning  only  a  match 

SA 


106  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

in  the  cask.  First  we  burn  a  match,  and  while 
the  cask  is  full  of  the  fumes,  pour  in  a  portion 
of  wine,  close  up  the  bung,  and  roll  it  about 
till  the  liquor  has  absorbed  them.  Then  re- 
move the  bung,  admit  the  air,  burn  more 
match,  Hnd  add  another  portion  of  wine,  and 
so  on  till  the  cask  is  full.  Thus  the  whole  of 
the  wine  or  must  will  be  saturated  with  sulphur- 
ous gas,  all  fermenting  put  a  stop  to,  and  the 
sweetness  preserved,  but  at  first  giving  the  dis- 
agreeable taste  of  sulphurous  gas,  which  after 
a  while  passes  off. 

To  recapitulate,  sulphuring  is  eminently  use- 
ful for  preserving  both  wines  and  casks.  When 
they  have  to  remain  empty,  it  protects  them 
against  mould,  and  other  hurtful  influences, 
while  wine  in  presence  of  it  loses  its  power  of 
fermenting  and  remains  unchanged. 

Since  during  the  burning  of  sulphur  the  oxy- 
gen is  abstracted  from  the  air,  and  sulphurous 
gas  produced,  and  since  the  presence  of  oxygen 
is  indispensable  to  the  wine  during  certain  per- 
iods of  its  formation,  evidently  it  cannot  be 
made  use  of  before  the  wine  is  made,  or  when 
we  desire  to  stop  fermentation,  to  preserve  a 
part  of  their  sugar.  Sulphurous  gas  has  a  very 
energetic  action  on  coloring  matters,  bleaching 
them,  and  causing  them  to  disappear.  On  this 
account  sulphuring  is  used  in  white  wine,  when 
it  is  sought  to  have  them  pale. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  107 

There  are  but  few  cases  in  which  sulphuring 
is  not  useful,  and  they  may  be  reduced  to  almost 
the  following : 

1.  When  we  wish  to  preserve  for  certain 
kinds  of  wine  that  slight  effervescence,  which  is 
a  characteristic  of  wines  of  Bucellas,  and  which 
is  due  to  very  feeble  fermentation. 

2.  When  the  wines  are  too  alcoholic,  and 
which  ferment  only  slowly,  as  occurs  when  rais- 
ins are  used. 

3.  Lastly  when  the  wine  has  been  attacked 
by  some  particular  disease,  which  will  be  treat- 
ed of  hereafter;  when  it  assumes  the  appear- 
ance of  oiliness,  or  fatness,  in  the  treatment  of 
which  oxygen  is  needed,  and  therefore  sulphur- 
ing would  be  out  of  place. 

When  speaking  of  sulphuring  casks,  I  ought 
to  make  a  remark  or  two,  which  perhaps  the 
educated  and  practical  wine  treater  will  kindly 
excuse.  The  remark  refers  to  a  disaster  which 
has  occurred  oftener  than  once.  Sulphuring 
must  never  be  done  without  first  making  sure 
that  there  is  no  brandy  in  the  cask,  nor  even 
the  vapor  of  it  arising  from  previous  washing, 
since  the  mixture  of  the  vapors  of  alcohol  and 
explosive  air  in  presence  of  the  burning  match, 
will  assuredly  produce  a  violent  explosion, 
which  ma}'  cause  great  damage,  not  to  say  burn 
the  buildings. 


THE  USE  OF  BRANDY. 


The  employment  of  brandy  to  keep  and  im- 
prove wines  is  so  general  in  Portugal,  and  con- 
sidered so  indispensable,  that  they  have  adopt- 
ed into  general  vogue  the  words  "beneficiar  os 
vinhos"  (benefit  the  wines).  In  making  Port 
wines,  and  some  others  which  are  made  in  imi- 
tation of  them,  and  also  in  making  liqueur 
wines,  it  is  indispensable,  they  say,  to  use  it 
very  freely.  It  is  not  my  present  intention  to 
enter  upon  any  discussion  of  the  generous  wines 
of  the  Douro,  and  others  like  them,  because,  as 
I  have  already  repeatedly  said  my  especial  ob- 
ject in  this  little  work,  is  to  treat  principally 
of  genuine,  pure,  nourishing  table  wines,  like 
French  Clarets. 

The  question  arises,  is  the  use  of  spirit  an 
advantage  in  making  wine,  and  is  it  indispensa- 
ble in  the  making  of  natural  food  wines  ? 

This  question  deserves  to  be  treated  at  con- 
siderable length,  for  there  is  a  generally  pre- 
vailing opinion  that  our  wines  do  not  keep  well, 
nor  endure  voyages  well  without  additional 
brandy.  But  on  the  other  hand,  wines  loaded 
with  alcohol  have  become  objectionable  to  the 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  109 

public  taste  in  England  itself,  which  has  been 
the  chief  consumer  of  our  excessively  generous 
wines  of  the  Douro.  So,  while  there,  the  con- 
sumption of  French  wines  is  rapidly  increasing, 
with  an  alcoholic  strength  far  beneath  that 
which  we  have  been  sending  to  that  market  ha- 
bitually, our  importations,  if  they  have  not  fal- 
len off  considerably,  remain  stationary,  and 
bear  no  relation  to  the  increasing  consumption 
of  wine  in  England. 

Without  denying  the  utility  and  advantage  of 
brandy  in  very  moderate  quantity  in  ordinary 
wines  of  consumption,  table  wines,  I  am  con- 
vinced by  individual  experience,  that  it  is  by  no 
means  indispensable  for  the  keeping  of  such 
wines,  when  they  have  been  made  and  kept  with 
all  the  precautions  and  cares  which  I  have  point- 
ed out,  unless  in  exceptional  and  purely  acci- 
dental cases. 

The  southern  provinces,  where  the  grapes 
arrive  at  a  maximum  of  maturity,  and 
where  they  are  the  richest  in  sugar,  and  on  this 
account  would  naturally  produce  the  most  spir- 
ituous wines,  are  exactly  those  in  which  the 
employment  of  brandy  is  most  common,  for  ex- 
perience has  demonstrated  that  their  wines,  on 
account  of  the  way  they  are  made,  will  not  ma- 
ture and  keep  without  a  lar^e  addition  of  spirit. 
In  the  manufacture  of  the  Port  wines  of  the 


110  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

Douro,  the  need  of  using  brandy  largely  is  per- 
fectly understood.  When  they  set  about  mak- 
ing full-bodied  wines  of  deep  color,  they  begin 
by  a  hard  and  prolonged  and  even  violent  work- 
ing of  the  grapes,  so  as  to  reduce  the  berry  and 
pulp  and  stalks  to  a  high  state  of  attenuation, 
charging  the  must  in  this  way  with  all  the  ma- 
terials needful  for  a  perfect  fermentation,  not 
only  the  alcoholic,  but  those  which  may  come 
afterwards  and  corrupt  the  wine.  It  therefore 
becomes  indispensable  to  render  inoperative 
those  dangerous  materials,  and  the  readiest  way 
to  do  is  by  an  excessive  dose  of  brandy,  which 
in  time  proves  of  benefit  in  developing  the  best 
characters  of  this  kind  of  wine,  which  are 
brought  out  by  the  action  of  acids,  obtained  not 
alone  from  the  berry,  but  from  the  stalks  also 
upon  it,  which  results  in  the  formation  of  the 
ethers  and  aroma  of  the  wine.  But  while  wine 
made  by  this  method,  with  very  ripe  grapes 
acquire  essentially  estimable  properties,  and  an 
immense  power  of  resisting  alteration,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  lose  the  property  of  being 
food  wines  (alimenticious),  and  are,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  too  exciting  and  generous. 

In  the  south  of  France  and  in  Catalonia,  full- 
bodied  and  very  deep-colored  wines  are  fabri- 
cated, to  be  mixed  with  the  poor,  thin  wines  of 
other  countries,  and  for  such  purpose  their  ex- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  HI 

cess  of  alcohol  is  an  advantage,  upon  which  the 
cellar  men  rely  for  their  keeping.  Still,  those 
Roussillon  and  Catalonia  wines  are  hardly  drink- 
able until  blended  with  weak  ones.  Their  raison 
d  etre  has  a  ground  to  stand  on,  but  very  differ- 
ent from  what  I  am  advocating. 

The  class  of  wines  which  our  country  (Portu- 
gal) for  the  most  part  is  best  suited  to  produce 
are  natural  wines  —  the  pure  juice  of  the  grape 
—  which  is  capable  of  being  made  good  —  nay, 
excellent — for  every-day  use  at  home,  and  fit 
for  exportation  to  any  country  without  risk  of 
loss.  That  this  can  be  done  in  good  condition 
without  the  addition  of  spirit  I  am  satisfied,  for 
the  same  reasons  that  it  is  done  in  countries 
where  the  nature  of  the  grapes,  the  soil  and 
climate  are  as  nearly  as  possible  identical  with 
those  of  Portugal.  Still,  the  addition  of  bran- 
dy in  just  and  moderate  proportion,  far  from 
doing  harm,  may  very  frequently  improve  the 
wine,  and  aid  in  its  keeping  properties.  Hence 
we  should  not  condemn  it,  but  keep  the  use  of 
it  within  strict  limits. 

In  a  work  published  in  1864,  Baron  Thenard 
treats  extensively  on  adding  brandy  to  wine,  in 
reference  to  France;  but  since,  for  the  most 
part,  his  arguments  might  be  applied  with  equal 
force  in  Portugal,  I  ask  leave  of  this  nobleman, 
whose  friendship  I  have  the  honor  to  enjoy,  to 


112  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

transcribe  a  few  paragraphs  from  his  interest- 
ing report,  because  they  enable  me  to  explain 
clearly  the  advantages  of  using  brandy  within 
reasonable  limits. 

"  Fins  da  aguardentasam'" — ends  and  objects 
aimed  at  by  the  use  of  brandy.  Let  us  now  see 
what  end  we  propose  to  accomplish  by  the  use 
of  brandy  in  wine.  Many  think  the  only  use 
of  brandy  is  to  increase  the  alcoholic  strength 
thereby;  but  the  end  is  much  more  complex  — 
it  is  one  of  the  most  important  points  of  this 
essay .  (Exposigao . ) 

' '  In  fact,  beyond  its  direct  and  easily  under- 
stood action,  spirit  exerts  others  more  latent, 
but  more  useful,  reacting  beneficially  on  the 
constituents  of  wines,  such  as  the  acids,  the 
salts,  the  color  and  the  ferments;  it  arranges 
and  equalizes  in  a  certain  way  their  different 
elements,  whether  by  eliminating  some  in  part, 
at  least,  when  they  are  too  abundant,  or  dimin- 
ishing their  effects;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  by 
facilitating  the  development  of  those  which  are 
deficient. 

"  On  the  importance  of  adding  brandy  to 
sweeten  very  acid  wines.  We  must  take  leave 
on  this  subject  to  go  into  particulars.  Every 
one  knows  that  sour  wine  is  disagreeable  to  the 
taste  and  hurtful  to  the  stomach.  Now,  with- 
out meaning  to  say  that  a  wine  of  low  spirit 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  113 

strength  is  always  acid,  we  may  truly  say  that 
an  acid  wine  always  contains  little  spirit,  and 
that  brandy  diminishes  this  grave  defect  in 
proportion  to  the  quantity  added.  This  our 
palates  can  tell  us,  but  a  simple  experiment 
demonstrates  it  better. 

"The  wine,  in  point  of  fact,  owes  its  acidity 
on  one  hand  to  a  series  of  free  acids  always 
present  in  relatively  small  proportions,  and  on 
the  other  hand  to  the  presence  of  a  salt  called 
cream  of  tartar,  which  has  a  peculiar  acid  taste, 
and  which  is  often  so  abundant  that  it  forms  a 
considerable  deposit  on  the  inside  of  the  casks. 

' t  If  we  saturate  water  with  cream  of  tartar 
and  then  add  a  little  brandy,  the  water  directly 
becomes  turbid  and  deposits  a  white  powder, 
which  is  the  cream  of  tartar.  If,  after  giving 
it  this  small  quantity,  we  put  in  more  brandy 
the  deposit  will  be  increased  in  such  degree 
that  when  the  alcohol  attains  a  certain  limit  all 
the  cream  of  tartar  will  have  been  deposited, 
and  the  water  will  be  found  to  have  lost  all 
acidity. 

"  Kepeat  the  above  experiment  with  clear  but 
very  sour  wine,  instead  of  the  aqueous  sohition 
of  cream  of  tartar.  The  result  will  be  identi- 
cal. Over  and  above  this,  direct  experience 
proves  that  in  a  wine,  either  naturally  rich  in 
spirit,  or  aided  with  brandy  up  to  10  per  cent., 


114  VINICULTURE  OF  OLA  RET. 

there  will  never  appear  an  excess  of  acid.  So, 
just  as  we  have  said,  brandying  corrects  the 
acidity  by  precipitating  the  excess  of  cream  of 
tartar,  to  which  the  acidity  was  due. 

11  Upon  the  action  of  alcohol  on  the  free  acids. 
With  regard  to  free  acids,  alcohol,  and  as  a 
consequence,  brandying,  reacts  upon  them,  but 
in  a  more  remarkable  manner,  for  its  effect  is 
two-fold,  since  it  converts  a  substance  essen- 
tially hurtful  into  substances  most  precioiis 
and  agreeable. 

"Chemistry  teaches  that  acids  possess  power 
of  combining  with  the  essential  principles  of 
brandy,  and  writh  them  forming  ethers.  Now 
those  ethers,  and  particularly  those  formed  by 
the  action  of  acids  on  wine  alcohol  in  presence 
of  the  other  constituents  of  the  wine,  possess  a 
balsamic  odor,  and  often  a  very  energetic  but 
also  delicate  taste. 

"  Meanwhile,  in  order  that  the  ethers  may  be 
formed,  even  with  length  of  time,  at  the  ordi- 
nary temperature  in  a  very  weak  acid  wine,  it  is 
necessary  that  it  should  contain  a  fair  percent- 
age of  alcohol,  and  10  per  cent,  is  by  no  means 
too  much,  when  we  wish  to  find  some  result  at 
the  end  of  a  few  months,  as  should  be  the  case 
when  we  treat  of  moderate  quality,  which,  to 
save  the  expense  of  cellarage,  should  be  drank 
young. 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  H5 

' '  In  order  that  the  acids  may  become  neu- 
tralized and  ethers  formed  in  a  weak  sour  wine, 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  fortify  in  the  vat, 
so  as  to  utilize  a  force,  called  by  chemists 
'  the  nascent,  state,'  and  the  high  temperature 
developed  during  the  process  of  fermentation, 
for  warmth  greatly  favors  this  kind  of  reaction. 

' '  Now  we  see  in  this  instance  the  brandying 
has  not  primarily  for  its  object  to  combat  any 
injurious  element,  but  to  transform  it  into  a 
precious  product,  which  imparts  to  wine  its 
most  delightful  relish.  Facts  known  and  borne 
out  by  ancient  practice  are  in  strict  accordance 
with  theory,  though  recent,  but  based  upon 
syntheses  the  most  complete,  and  analyses  the 
most  precise.  The  name  of  their  eminent  au- 
thor, Berthelot,  is  no  mean  authority  for  their 
value. 

"  On  the  influence  of  brandying  on  the  color 
of  red  tvines. — Red  wines  owe  their  color  to  a 
coloring  principle,  which,  with  the  exception  of 
the  '  tinta '  grapes,  of  which  but  few  are  culti- 
vated, exists  only  in  the  skins.  This  coloring 
principle  of  dark  red  inclining  towards  blue  is 
soluble  in  the  alcohol,  but  insoluble  in  the  other 
constituents  of  wine;  consequently,  limiting 
ourselves  to  this  fact,  the  wines  would  be  so 
much  richer  in  color,  in  the  relative  abundance 
of  spirit,  in  proportion  to  the  coloring  matter 


116  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

contained  in  the  skins.  Meanwhile,  we  know 
that  there  are  wines  of  low  alcoholic  strength 
which  possess  a  very  beautiful  color,  but  when 
we  consider  them  we  find  them  to  be  very  acid, 
generally  speaking. 

' '  From  this  it  seems  to  follow  that  acidity 
has  a  good  deal  to  do  in  the  coloring  of  wines, 
and  such  is  the  fact. 

41  In  point  of  fact  the  red  coloring  principle  is 
very  easily  oxidized  under  the  united  action  of 
air  and  acid  liquids,  but  in  this  instance  the 
dark  passes  to  a  bright  red,  tending  toward  an 
orange  tint,  and  from  being  insoluble  in  acid 
liquids  it  becomes  soluble  in  them,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  ceases  to  be  soluble  in  alcoho}. 
Consequently  with  these  new  data,  we  can  un- 
derstand how,  if  the  acid  grapes  be  properly 
crushed  before  being  put  in  the  fermenting  ves- 
sel, if  they  were  again  and  again  mixed  up  just 
previous  to  the  setting  in  of  fermentation,  and 
above  all,  if  they  have  a  good  long  time  on  the 
skins,  that  is  to  say,  exposed  to  the  action  of 
the  air  by  every  means  possible,  the  wine  will 
have  a  very  deep  color.  Certainly  there  will  be 
developed  in  it  abundance  of  red  coloring  mat- 
ter, which  will  be  dissolved  in  the  acid  body  of 
the  wine,  and  the  red  coloring  got  in  this  way, 
being  added  to  the  purple  extracted  by  the 
alcohol,  will  form  a  liquid  with  a  color  deeper, 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  117 

in  proportion  to  the  coloring  matter  in  the 
skins.  Such  is  the  theory,  and  such  the  prac- 
tice. ''This  wine  ivants  color:  it  never  had  suf- 
ficient cutting,"  say  the  vintners,  and  the  vint- 
ners are  right. 

•'From  all  this  we  may  conclude  a  priori,  that 
the  addition  of  brandy,  except  brandying  in  the 
fermenting  vat,  would  be  useless,  so  far  as 
coloring  is  concerned,  unless  for  wines  of  low 
alcoholic  strength  and  not  much  acid.  Unhap- 
pily such  is  not  the  case,  and  under  the  con- 
sideration of  the  coloring,  as  of  many  others, 
they  have  much  need  of  it. 

"  It  is  not  in  fact  without  risk,  that  we  bring 
musts  still  warm  from  fermentation  having  set 
in,  in  contact  with  much  air.  Do  what  we  will, 
and  people  are  often  heedless  about  it,  the  wine 
becomes  more  or  less  sour;  it  becomes  in  part 
vinegar;  and  in  exchange  for  the  beautiful  color 
given  to  it  artificially  by  coloring  matters,  it 
becomes  the  most  disagreeable  to  the  palate, 
and  the  most  indigestible  conceivable. 

"  Consequently  for  all  light  red  wines,  wheth- 
er acid  or  not,  brandying  in  the  fermenting  vat 
produces  the  happiest  results  upon  their  color- 
ing matter.  As  concerns  fortifying  in  the  cask 
it  is  clear  that  as  there  are  no  skins  for  it  to  act 
upon,  it  can  do  nothing  to  assist  the  coloring; 
but  if  it  does  no  good,  it  does  no  harm. 


118  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

"We  have  said  already  that  brandying  pre- 
cipitated the  cream  of  tartar,  and  neutralized  the 
acids  by  forming  ethers  in  combination  with 
them.  Now,  if  we  add  brandy  to  wines,  after 
being  put  in  cask,  which  owe  their  color  in 
great  part  to  their  acids,  necessarily  the  red 
coloring  matter,  which  is  not  soluble  except  in 
presence  of  the  acid  salts,  will  disappear  and 
fall  down  with  the  lees;  and  this  is  just  what 
happens.  If  any  one  doubts,  let  him  ask  the 
vineyardists  of  the  South  (of  France).  Truly, 
as  it  happens,  this  is  a  matter  of  minor  consid- 
eration with  them,  as  their  wines  are  overload- 
ed with  color,  and  become  rather  an  advantage 
as  it  helps  them  to  clear  and  brighten;  but  it  is 
a  different  matter  in  the  case  of  deep-colored 
acid  red  wines. 

"  Consequently,  as  far  as  color  is  concerned, 
brandying,  except  brandying  while  in  the  fer- 
menting vat,  is  useful  for  wines  of  low  alcoholic 
strength,  whether  acid  or  not — and  the  addition 
of  brandy  to  wines  of  the  South  (of  France) 
which  are  but  slightly  acid,  while  it  would  be 
beneficial  rather  than  otherwise  to  them,  would 
be  highly  injurious  to  acid  wines  of  other  dis- 
tricts; and  consequently  if  some  day  free  use  of 
brandy  be  allowed  to  all  France,  care  will  have 
to  be  taken  about  this  important  difference. 

"  On  the  different  kinds  of  fermentation,  the 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  H9 

addition  of  brandy  exerts  even  a  greater  influ- 
ence on  the  keeping  of  wines,  but  this  influence 
may  prove  either  salutary  or  injurious,  accord- 
ing as  it  is  used  with  due  precaution  or  not. 

' '  A  liquid  like  the  must  of  the  grape,  left  to 
itself  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  if  it  does  not 
heat  much  in  the  act  of  fermenting,  ferments 
always  spontaneously,  and  the  fermentation  is 
alcoholic,  and  nothing  but  alcoholic;  it  is  the 
sugar  which  is  split  up  — part  forming  alcohol, 
and  the  rest  disappearing  as  gas.  Should  the 
temperature,  however,  rise  above  30°  centi- 
grade, the  sugar  may  still  be  broken  up,  and 
the  result  be  lactic  acid,  in  which  case  the  wine 
must  suffer  severely.  Happily,  in  the  case  of 
grapes,  this  kind  of  fermentation  rarely  hap- 
pens, and  so  we  wont  waste  time  about  it. 

"Meanwhile,  if  at  a  temperature  of  20° or  25° 
C.,  fche  air  has  free  access,  there  is  a  tendency 
to  form  acetic  acid,  and  to  produce  more  or 
less  vinegar.  In  this  instance  the  vinegar  is 
formed  at  the  expense  of  the  alcohol.  By  the 
heat  of  the  cellar,  however,  as  time  goes  on, 
with  free  access  of  air,  the  acetic  fermentation 
may  be  produced  —  above  all  if  the  vinegar 
germ  is  already  in  the  wine.  This  is  not  un- 
common when  the  casks  are  left  to  lie  long  with- 
out having  been  filled  up  completely. 

"As  to  the  putrid  fermentation,  which  is  the 


120  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

last,  this  is  not  caused  by  the  saccharine  prin- 
ciple of  the  grapes  like  the  others,  but  from 
some  albumenoid  principles,  now  but  little 
understood,  perhaps  from  the  ferment.  This 
disease  is  most  frequently  noticed  in  wines  with 
little  acid,  alcoholic  or  not.  From  all  this  we 
conclude  that  the  alcoholic  fermentation  makes 
the  wine,  the  other  fermentations  ruin  it. 

"  Oti  adding  brandy  to  wine  in  the  cask,  as 
affecting  its  keeping  properties. — In  the  meantime 
what  are  the  reasons  why  the  wines  of  the  South 
(of  France),  even  the  most  spirituous,  will  not 
keep  without  additional  alcohol? 

"  It  is  necessary,  first  of  all,  to  distinguish 
between  alcoholic  wines  and  such  as  have  hard- 
ly 10  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  because  in  the  South 
there  are  many  of  this  sort,  the  old-fashioned 
boiled  wines,  (vinhosde  caldeira.) 

"  Confining  ourselves  for  the  present  to  these 
latter,  it  may  suffice  to  observe  that  they  are  at 
once,  both  only  slightly  acid,  moderately  alco- 
holic, and  deficient  of  tannin,  that  is,  they 
are  short  of  the  three  elements  which  make  wine 
keep,  and  beyond  this,  being  in  the  warmest 
climate  of  France,  they  do  not  fulfill  any  of  the 
requisite  conditions  of  a  firm  wine;  they  are  not 
that — and  they  easily  change. 

"Now,  as  to  the  very  spirituous  wines,  the 
cause  of  their  want  of  firmness  is  somewhat 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  121 

more  complex.  The  grapes  with  which  this 
class  of  wines  is  made  are  so  saccharine  that  if 
all  their  sugar  should  be  converted  into  alco- 
hol, as  is  the  case  with  moderately  saccharine 
grapes,  the  strength  would  often  exceed  18  per 
cent,  of  alcohol.  Since  fermentation  stops  at 
this  strength,  [or  at  one  a  good  deal  lower — 
Translator]  it  follows  that  such  wines  contain 
nearly  always  an  excess  of  sugar  unchanged, 
which,  upon  the  least  evaporation  of  the  spirit, 
the  slightest  elevation  of  the  temperature,  or  the 
smallest  diminution  of  atmospheric  pressure  —in 
fine,  at  any  moment  they  stand  ready  to  return 
to  fermenting.  Well,  among  the  thousands  of 
these  possible  occurrences,  more  or  less  percep- 
tible, some  one  may  be  expected  to  happen  every 
day;  and  so  those  wines  are  in  a  perpetual  state 
of  feeble  fermentation,  which  is  enough  to  hold 
them  in  a  continual  bad  state,  and  which  ren- 
ders them  more  liable  to  pass  into  acetic  or 
even  putrid  fermentation,  which  happens,  how- 
ever slightly  the  other  preservative  elements 
diminish  in  quantity  or  potency. 

"  Now,  how  to  obviate  these  serious  acci- 
dents ?  As  to  the  very  spirituous  wines,  it  is 
necessary  to  add  water  at  the  time  of  the  vint- 
age, to  modify  their  tendency  to  become  too 
alcoholic,  so  that  their  excess  of  sugar  may  be 
broken  up  during  fermentation,  or  else,  when 
6 


122  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

they  are  being  drawn  out  of  the  fermenting 
vats  into  casks,  to  add  so  much  alcohol  as  to 
raise  them  above  the  point  at  which  fermenta- 
tion is  possible,  and  this  is  the  occasion  when 
their  alcoholic  strength  is  raised  to  18  per  cent. 
Now,  as  regards  the  weak  wines  of  the  South,  it 
is  necessary  to  add  to  them  cream  of  tartar  and 
tannin,  or  to  dose  them  with  brandy,  and  this 
is  what  is  done. 

"  What  we  can  say  of  alcohol  in  wine. — Over 
and  above  its  direct  action,  the  alcohol  dimin- 
ishes the  acidity  of  acid  wines,  develops  in  them 
an  agreeable  taste  and  perfume,  increases  their 
color,  and  thereby  renders  useless  the  danger- 
ous practices  had  recourse  to  for  that  purpose. 

"  Brandying  produces  all  these  felicitous  re- 
sults, and  more  than  all,  imparts  to  wines  such 
a  firmness  that  under  its  influence  they  can  face 
the  longest  voyages  under  the  extremes  of  tem- 
perature, and  resist  the  deleterious  action  of 
the  most  unwholesome  cellars." 

So  far  Baron  Thenard. 

Reviewing  all  this  exposition,  it  appears  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  Baron  Thenard,  braiidying  is 
an  operation  useful  and  even  necessary  in  many 
cases  for  the  improvement  and  keeping  of  wines, 
and  his  views  agree  with  the  practice  of  many 
countries.  Now,  it  is  but  due  to  him  to  say 
that  he  is  the  proprietor  of  very  extensive  vine- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  123 

yards  in  Burgundy,  and  that  the  rare  wines  of 
Burgundy  are  hardly  ever  under  any  circum- 
stances fortified.  The  same  is  the  case  with 
the  wines  of  the  Medoc,  and  other  vinicultural 
centres,  which  produce  the  finest  of  pure  gen- 
uine wines.  Fortifying  may  be  useful  and  even 
necessary  in  many  cases,  but  it  is  not  indispen- 
sable for  all  wines,  like  racking  and  clarifying. 
If  we  read  attentively  the  above  extracts  from 
Baron  Thenard'  s  works,  we  shall  easily  perceive 
that  it  is  only  in  the  treatment  of  wines  full  of 
acid,  with  little  alcohol,  and  such  as  are  flat 
and  deficient  in  tannin  and  tartaric  acid,  al- 
though they  have  an  excess  of  sugar  and  color, 
that  the  use  of  brandy  becomes  necessaiy. 
When  the  component  principles  of  wine  are 
nicely  balanced,  as  is  the  case  in  ripe  wines, 
made  and  kept  in  good  condition,  the  addition 
of  brandy  is,  to  say  the  least,  useless.  Of 
course,  it  may  operate  as  a  remedial  agent  in 
wines  by  nature  defective,  such  as,  for  exam- 
ple, most  of  the  green  wines  of  the  Minho 
(Portugal),  or  even  for  mature  wines  naturally 
coarse  and  badly  made. 

In  effect,  alcohol  is  the  most  active  preserva- 
tive agent  of  wine,  still  when  its  percentage  goes 
outside  of  certain  limits,  the  wine  loses  those 
properties  which  are  the  most  valuable  as  a 
hygienic  and  alimentary  drink.  All  wine  hold- 


124  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

ing  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  of  absolute  alco- 
hol becomes  an  exciting  beverage,  needing  to 
be  used  in  moderation,  and  cannot  enter  into 
the  list  of  good  food  wines.  Wines  of  that 
strength,  and  upwards,  have  their  place  among 
liqueurs  and  fancy  wines;  and  the  modern  taste 
relegates  them  exclusively  to  the  department  of 
liqueurs  and  luxuries. 

Thus  all  the  brandying  that  we  practice  on 
wines  of  food  and  daily  consumption,  should 
never  go  beyond  fifteen  per  cent,  of  absolute 
alcohol,  or  rather  14.5.  Binding  ourselves  by 
this  rule  we  shall  obtain  the  advantage  of  being 
able  to  introduce  our  wines  into  England  under 
the  one  shilling  (25  cts.)  per  Imperial  gallon, 
just  as  the  most  part  of  the  French  wines  are 
admitted,  and  will  be  so  long  as  the  present 
tariff  exists. 

Brandying  may  be  done  in  various  ways,  and 
on  different  occasions.  It  may  be  done  in  the 
casks,  or  in  the  fermenting  vessel  before  the 
wine  is  drawn  off.  In  Portugal  the  brandy  iug 
is  in  general  done  in  the  casks.  Some  do  it 
just  as  the  wine  is  put  into  cask,  before  the 
slow  fer mentation  has  ceased.  This  is  what  is 
usually  done  in  the  Douro,  in  making  port  wine; 
which  in  that  particular  instance  may  have 
a  raison  d'etre,  which  does  not  concern  us  now, 
but  which  finds  no  place  in  the  making  of  pure 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  125 

genuine  wines,  because  it  would  stop  the  light 
fermentation  so  necessary  for  the  proper  for- 
mation of  wine.  Others,  and  this  is  the  case 
generally,  add  spirit  only  after  racking  in 
March.  This  brandy  can  be  added  only  to  in- 
crease the  alcoholic  strength,  make  up  for  any 
little  loss  of  spirit  by  racking,  or  help  in  the 
clarifying  which  then  takes  place. 

The  use  of  brandy  during  fermentation 
proper  is  not  in  use  in  Portugal;  still,  writers 
on  wine  matters  recommend  it  as  the  most  con- 
venient and  efficacious  way  in  cases  where  it 
would  be  either  useful  or  necessary.  And  be- 
yond all  doubt  if  the  object  be  to  establish 
equilibrium  among  the  elements  of  the  wine, 
or  to  supply  the  want  of  sugar  which  should 
have  supplied  the  spirit,  or  to  diminish  acidity 
and  forward  the  formation  of  ethers,  or  to  dis- 
solve a  larger  proportion  of  coloring  matters, 
on  no  occasion  will  the  effect  of  it  be  more 
useful  than  at  the  cessation  of  the  tumultuous 
fermentation;  while  yet  the  liquid  is  warm  and 
in  contact  with  the  skins,  etc.  The  quantity 
of  brandy  to  be  added  in  this  case  must  be  cal- 
culated upon  the  relative  saccharine  richness 
of  the  grapes,  and  always  so  as  never  to  be  ex- 
cessive. 

The  brandy  which  should  be  used  to  fortify 
wine,  under  whatever  circumstances  this  opera- 


126  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

tion  has  to  be  performed,  must  be  good  wine 
brandy  distilled  from  wines  of  low  alcoholic 
strength.  Alcohols  obtained  from  grains,  from 
beets  and  other  roots,  cane  sugars,  etc.,  recti- 
fied and  afterwards  reduced  to  any  convenient 
strength,  how  pure  so  ever  they  may  be,  and 
perhaps  on  the  very  account  of  their  purity, 
never  harmonize  with  wine  in  the  same  way 
as  good  brandy  directly  distilled  from  wine. 

In  like  manner,  with  alcohol  chemically  pure 
diluted  with  water,  cognac  cannot  be  made,  un- 
less the  proper  spirit  of  wine  be  present, 
(onanthic  ether,  etc  ,)  for  all  that  its  chemical 
composition  may  be  identical.  What  practice 
has  made  clear,  is  that  the  purer  and  more 
highly  rectified  the  alcohol  is,  the  more  reluc- 
tant is  it  to  amalgamate  with  the  component 
principles  of  wine  of  a  delicate  constitution. 

The  need  of  brandying  afterwards  may  be 
anticipated  and  supplied  by  the  addition  of 
cane  sugar  while  fermentation  is  in  progress. 
By  being  fermented,  this  sugar  furnishes  the 
requisite  amount  of  alcohol  to  fortify  the  wine. 
The  price  of  the  very  finest  sugar  (the  only 
sugar  which  can  be  used  without  introducing  a 
bad  taste  into  the  wine),  is  the  chief  reason  for 
not  using  it  for  fortifying  weak  acid  wines,  but 
when  we  speak  of  weak  acid  wines,  like  the 
' 'green  wines  "  of  the  Minho,  which  have  not 
more  than  6  or  7  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  the  ben- 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  127 

efit  in  relation  to  both  strength  and  quality  de- 
rivable from  this  practice  is  manifest. 

I  cannot  here  and  now  refer  to  any  results  of 
direct  experiments  made  in  the  Minho  with  the 
above  object,  though  I  have  recommended  it 
more  than  once.  However,  this  plan  of  im- 
proving and  fortifying  weak  acid  wines,  has 
been  in  use  in  other  countries  for  a  long  time, 
and  it  would  be  well  if  our  viniculturists  of  the 
Minho  would  give  it  a  trial. 

According  to  the  practice  adopted  in  Bur- 
gundy, the  sugar  should  be  put  in  when  fer- 
mentation is  nearly  over,  the  quantity  being 
1,700  grams  (3  pounds  8  ounces)  for  each  de- 
gree of  strength  which  we  wish  to  produce  in 
each  hectolitre  of  wine. 

The  sugar  must  be  first  dissolved  in  a  suffi- 
cient quantitity  of  the  same  must  into  which  it 
is  going  to  be  put,  and  when  the  solution  is 
added  to  the  fermenting  liquid,  the  whole  must 
be  thoroughly  stirred  and  incorporated.  Upon 
the  addition  being  made,  fermentation  sets  in 
anew,  and  as  soon  as  it  ceases,  the  wine  may 
be  drawn  off  in  the  usual  way. 

Some  practical  viniculturists  have  observed 
that  wines  so  treated,  show  for  a  long  while  an 
inclination  to  ferment  and  to  turn,  but  it  does 
not  always  happen:  but  to  prevent  any  danger, 
the  means  are  at  hand.  It  needs  only  that  we 
add  2  litres  of  brandy  to  each  hectolitre  of  wine 


128  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

before  drawing  it  off.  Common  pomace  brandy 
serves  for  the  purpose;  for  according  to  Yis- 
count  Yergette — Lamotte,  the  offensive  taste  of 
such  brandy  is  not  imparted  to  the  wine  when 
put  into  the  fermenting  vat.  The  cost  of  this 
is  quite  trifling,  and  that  of  the  sugar  not  very 
much.  In  the  instance  of  wines  which  have  to 
be  sold  very  cheap,  the  additional  cost  will  be 
felt;  but  it  is  better  for  the  purchaser  to  obtain 
a  decent  article,  and  for  the  proprietor  to  have 
a  firm  wine  than  a  detestable  beverage  which 
does  not  deserve  the  name  of  wine.  On  this 
account  1  do  not  hesitate  to  advise  the  vigner- 
ons  of  the  Miuho  who  may  try  to  improve  their 
green  wines,  to  do  so  either  by  adding  sugar 
during  fermentation,  or  by  adding  brandy  be- 
fore drawing  off — for  that  is  what  they  need, 
and  not  brandying  after  being  put  in  cask. 

For  the  same  purpose  as  sugar,  there  is  com- 
monly used  in  Portugal  and  other  countries, 
fresh  must,  concentrated  to  the  consistence  of 
syrup,  called  arrobe.  It  is  then  ready  to  be  ad- 
ded to  the  fermenting  must.  Where  the  musts 
and  wines  are  very  acid,  as  is  the  case  in  the 
Minho,  often  containing  less  than  10  per  cent, 
of  alcohol,  arrobe  would  be  out  of  place,  be- 
cause the  acids  and  salts  are  fixed  in  it,  and 
would  only  augment  the  quantity  already  too 
great  in  the  wine. 


METHOD     DEVISED     BY    M.    LOUIS 
BARRAL. 


I  will  now  explain  a  process  devised  by  M. 
Louis  Barral,  a  scientific  chemist  and  vineyard 
proprietor  in  the  Herault,  which  is  destined  to 
improve,  and  cause  ordinary  wines,  whatever 
be  their  nature,  to  keep  good.  At  the  Interna- 
tional Exhibition  of  1867,  a  medal  was  awarded 
to  it  on  account  of  the  excellent  results  obtain- 
ed by  the  use  of  it.  The  process  is  very  easy, 
and  within  reach  of  any  vineyardist,  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  condensed  form,  as  given  by  the  in- 
ventor himself.  In  his  condensed  form  we  have 
an  epitome  of  every  operation  of  wine-making; 
and  so  those  who  think  well  to  adopt  his  inven- 
tion, may  follow  his  instructions  literally. 

Following  is  the  regular  order  of  procedure : 

1st.  Tread,  crush,  or  by  any  means  reduce 
the  grapes  to  a  uniform  pulp. 

2d.  Leave  the  must  to  ferment  for  only  five 
or  six  days  under  ordinary  conditions  of  tem- 
perature, say  16  to  18  degrees  Centigrade. 

3.  Draw  off  all  the  wine  and  put  it  in  casks 
apart. 

6A 


130  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

4.  Press  the  pomace. 

5.  Take  from  a  portion  of  this  pomace  wliile 
quite  fresh,  the  skins  and  seeds,  and  a  portion 
of  the  stalks. 

6.  Introduce  this  selected  portion  of  pomace 
into  a  cask  with  a  large  bung;  then  pour  over  it 
as  much  high  proof  brandy  as  will  cover  it,  and 
leave  it  to  macerate,  after  hermetically  closing 
the   bung  hole,  and  never  disturbing  it  until 
February  following,  when   it   is   necessary   to 
rack  it  off.     This  is  what  M.  Barral  calls  "ta- 
me ivine  alcohol. ' '   To  get  the  residue  out  of  the 
skins,  etc.,  it  is  necessary  to  wash  them  with 
two  or  three  successive  portions  of  wine,  and 
finally  to  press  them.     The  wine  and  pressings 
must  be  kept  separate  from  the  brandy.    When 
they  have  become  clear  they  need  racking. 

To  improve  ordinary  wine,  which  was  drawn 
from  the  fermenting  vat  into  casks,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  employ  one  litre  and  a  quarter,  or  a 
litre  and  a  half  of  the  "tannic  wine  alcohol"  to 
each  hectolitre  (about  3  pints  to  26  gallons). 
The  wine  got  by  washing  the  pomace  may  be 
used  at  the  same  time,  and  in  the  same  propor- 
tion. When  the  wine  lias  been  prepared  as 
directed,  it  is  desirable  to  clarify  it,  and  after 
a  few  weeks,  rack  it. 

The  process  just  described  and  employed  by 
M.  Barral  on  ordinary  wines  of  bad  years  in 


VINICULTURE 


the  south  of  France,  is  equally  applicable  to 
wines  which  are  always  ordinary  in  many  coun- 
tries. The  foundation  of  it  is  the  addition  of 
brandy  charged  with  tannin,  one  of  the  best 
preservative  principles  of  wine.  The  clarifying 
with  isinglass  or  gelatine  (colla),  which  should 
always  follow  the  brandying,  will  soften  down 
any  asperity  or  roughness  which  possibly  may 
have  been  communicated  by  the  tannin.  By 
these  operations  the  wine  gains  in  strength,  in 
keeping  power  and  in  color. 

~$£  districts  where  on  account  of  the  generally 
good  quality  of  the  wines,  the  above  process 
becomes  needless;  nevertheless,  it  is  well  to 
prepare  a  certain  quantity,  both  with  the  red 
and  white  grape  pomace,  separately,  for  it  may 
be  required,  either  to  facilitate  clarifying  when 
there  is  a  deficiency  of  tannin,  or  to  treat  wines 
which  become  diseased  for  want  of  it. 


ON  WHITE  AND  PALE  WINES. 

(VINHOS  BRA.NCOS  E  PALHETES.) 


Desiring  as  I  do  to  limit  this  treatise  to  an 
exposition  of  the  most  convenient  methods  of 
preparing  pure  red  wines  of  general  consump- 
tion, I  might  have  properly  omitted  all  mention 
of  tvhite  wines,  the  manufacture  of  which  among 
us  is  very  limited,  relatively  to  the  red.  As  to 
the  pale  wines  (paUietes),  the  making  of  them  is 
perhaps  a  little  more  extensive  than  of  ordinary 
white  wines.  Still  they  are  made  for  local 
consumption  only,  and  trade,  especially  for  ex- 
port, does  not  purchase  them.  I  consider,  how- 
ever, that  I  ought  to  say  something  about  them, 
because,  though  the  business  in,  them  is  small 
and  local,  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should 
not  have  a  position  in  foreign  markets,  and 
sooner  or  later  a  good  business  may  be  done  in 
them. 

Setting  aside  especial  kinds  of  white  wines, 
chiefly  liqueur  wines,  such  as  the  Muscatels, 
the  Malvasias,  and  the  wines  of  Madeira,  of 
which  I  do  not  intend  to  treat  in  this  treatise, 
one  may  say  in  a  general  way  that  the  white 
wines  of  Portugal  belong  to  two  distinct  classes, 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  133 

viz.,  dry  white  wines  for  ordinary  consumption, 
and  alcoholic  ones,  the  chief  use  of  which  is  to 
blend  with  red  wines,  to  give  them  the  sem- 
blance of  age.  In  all  the  essentials  of  wine- 
making  there  is  no  difference  between  red  and 
white  wines.  They  are  made  exclusively  with 
white  grapes,  whilst  the  reds  are  made  either 
with  red  grapes  alone,  or,  as  is  more  usual, 
with  a  mixture  of  white  and  red,  the  largest 
part  being  red.  The  pale  or  pallet  wines  are 
made  with  a  preponderance  of  white  over  red 
(Schiller  wines);  consequently  there  is  a  wide 
difference  between  our  method  of  making  white 
and  Schiller  wines  and  those  in  vogue  in  foreign 
wine  countries. 

Full-bodied,  spirituous  white  wine,  princi- 
pally those  used  in  the  commerce  of  Oporto  to 
mix  with  red  wines,  are  made  exclusively  with 
white  grapes,  and  in  exactly  the  same  way  as 
the  red;  and  consequently,  since  they  are  fer- 
mented on  the  skins  and  stalks,  they  acquire  an 
exceedingly  deep  yellow  color,  partly,  no  doubt, 
from  the  oxidation  of  the  organic  matter  of  the 
skins.  They  receive  a  very  considerable  pro- 
portion of  brandy  immediately  after  being  drawn 
off  the  fermenting  cask,  which  preserves  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  sweetness  and  preventing  fur- 
ther fermentation.  Wines  of  this  character, 
very  valuable  for  the  purpose  for  which  they 


134  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

are  intended,  can  in  no  sense  be  considered  as 
genuine  food  wines  for  ordinary  consumption; 
therefore  I  consider  this  is  not  the  place  to 
treat  of  them. 

The  making  of  dry  white  wines  differs  from 
the  foregoing  only  in  so  far  as  the  slow  fer- 
mentation in  the  cask  is  not  suspended  nor  the 
second  fermentation  by  the  use  of  brandy,  but 
allowed  to  become  as  dry  as  possible,  the  same 
as  red  wines.  From  the  nature  of  the  grapes 
of  which  they  are  made,  white  wines  deposit  a 
much  more  considerable  quantity  of  lees  than 
the  reds,  and  consequently  require  more  fre- 
quent racking,  and  at  least  one  clarifying  with 
isinglass,  or  where  it  cannot  be  had,  with  the 
best  gelatine,  aided  by  an  addition  of  cream  of 
tartar. 

Musts  of  white  grapes  fermented  on  the  skins 
like  those  of  red  grapes,  yield  wines  equally 
dry,  relishing  and  wholesome,  and  may  take 
their  place  among  food  wines,  and  are  prefer- 
red by  some  to  red  wines,  as  being  lighter; 
still,  the  great  majority  of  men  prefer  red  wines 
for  every-day  use.  It  is  not  meant  here  to  con- 
trovert what  statistics  show  plainly  enough  con- 
cerning the  consumption  of  white  wines  in  En- 
gland, which  is  far  greater  than  that  of  reds; 
but  we  should  not  forget  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  white  wines  drank  in  England  are  called 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  135 

Sherries,  generous  alcoholic  wines,  which,  just 
like  the  Ports,  belong  to  an  entirely  different 
class.  If  we  compare  only  the  genuine  red 
wines  (the  French  Clarets,  for  example)  and  the 
French  whites  consumed  there,  and  excluding 
the  Champagnes  and  liqueur  wines,  we  shall 
perceive  that  the  difference  is  considerable  in 
favor  of  reds  for  daily  use.  Whatever  the 
cause  of  this  preference  may  be,  the  fact  is 
that  the  actual  increase  of  consumption  is  alto- 
gether in  favor  of  pure  red  wines,  without  ex- 
cluding, however,  whites  of  a  like  nature,  still 
requiring  certain  qualities  to  be  present  in  them 
which  cannot  be  imparted  by  our  present  Por- 
tuguese methods. 

Genuine  white  wines  must  be  free  from  all 
roughness  and  astringency,  must  have  a  slight 
sweetness  and  be  very  light,  perfectly  clear  and 
bright,  as  well  as  nearly  colorless.  These 
qualities  can  be  secured  solely  by  fermenting 
without  the  skins  or  stalks;  and  so  the  methods 
in  general  use,  both  in  France  and  Germany, 
with  very  slight  modifications,  consists  in 
pressing  the  grapes  and  allowing  the  must  to 
run,  and  putting  it  at  once  to  ferment  and 
leaving  it  to  run  through  its  whole  course, 
and  giving  it  afterwards  the  same  care  and 
cleanliness  as  required  in  the  case  of  red  wine. 
The  statement  of  the  process  is  simple  enough, 


136  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

but  the  cares  and  precautions  required  in  prac- 
tice are  very  minute  when  the  safest  and  hap- 
piest results  are  aimed  at.  Above  and  before 
all,  there  is  indispensable  need  of  the  most  ex- 
treme cleanliness  of  all  utensils  whatever,  that 
are  to  be  brought  into  contact  with  the  grapes 
or  with  the  must,  or  with  the  wine  when  made. 
If  the  grapes  are  to  be  trodden  before  being 
pressed,  which  is  convenient,  for  as  much  as  it 
can  be  rapidly  done,  allowing  the  pulp  to  run 
out  so  as  not  to  allow  fermentation  to  set  in, 
the  bench  and  press  ought  to  have  been  scru- 
pulously washed  even  till  the  water  ran  out 
clear,  to  obviate  the  introduction  of  any  for- 
eign matter  which  by  possibility  might  impart 
its  own  taste  or  smell  to  the  wine.  The  same 
cleanliness  is  demanded  for  the  casks,  etc., 
which  should  never  have  been  used  for  any  but 
white  wine,  and  supposing  them  to  be  new,  any 
taste  of  the  wood  should  have  been  washed  out 
of  them.  For  white  wine  the  grapes  should 
be  quite  fully  ripe,  and  all  dry,  imperfect  or  al- 
tered berries  should  be  picked  off  them. 

Generally,  the  must  of  white  grapes  deposits 
a  deal  more  lees  than  that  of  red  grapes,  and 
as  a  consequence  it  clears  with  far  more  diffi- 
culty and  is  liable  to  repeated  fermentations. 
In  order  to  avoid  this  trouble,  and  preserve  the 
sweetness  which  it  ought  to  have,  and  that  fine 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  137 

texture  which  forms  one  of  its  most  highly  es- 
teemed qualities,  it  is  desirable  to  remove  as 
far  as  may  be,  the  bulk  of  the  sediment,  even 
before  fermentation  becomes  established.  Two 
methods  are  in  use  to  do  this:  1st.  Some 
makers  receive  the  must  in  comparatively 
small  tubs  with  taps,  and  as  soon  as  the  must 
has  formed  a  thick  scum  on  the  surface  they 
decant  through  the  tap  the  wine  now  separated 
from  the  sediment  that  has  fallen,  and  from  the 
scum  which  has  risen  to  the  surface.  This 
sort  of  decanting  is  carried  on  with  other  tubs 
like  the  first,  so  long  as  the  must  goes  on  form- 
ing new  sediments  and  new  scums,  in  fact  till 
it  ceases  to  form  thick  scum,  when  it  is  put 
into  casks,  and  when  the  fermentation  will  form 
and  work  through  more  gently  than  had  the 
above  operations  not  taken  place.  The  casks 
should  be  filled  quite  full,  so  that  the  scum 
that  forms  during  the  more  energetic  stages  of 
fermentation  may  escape  freely  through  the 
bung -hole,  and  not  fall  into  the  body  of  the 
wine  where  they  would  be  ready  to  renew  fer- 
mentation. When  fermentation  is  quite  fin- 
ished, the  casks  should  be  filled  up  with  the 
same  kind  of  wine,  always,  and  subjected 
to  all  the  same  care  and  precautions  as 
mentioned  already  for  red  wines.  2d.  The 
other  method  of  preserving  a  part  of  their 
sugar  in  white  wines,  which  is  easier  in  prac- 


138  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

tice  and  equally  effective,  consists  in  putting 
the  must,  just  as  it  is  made,  in  casks  well  sul- 
phured, in  order  to  arrest  fermentation  for 
some  time.  Under  these  conditions  the  greater 
part  of  the  gross  sediment  becomes  deposited 
before  fermentation  commences,  and  as  soon 
as  the  must  looks  milky  it  is  racked  or  trans- 
ferred to  other  casks  similarly  sulphured. 
This  operation  may  be  repeated  as  soon  as  fer- 
mentation begins  to  appear,  and  again,  if  need- 
ful, until  the  greater  part  of  the  thick  sediment 
has  been  removed.  The  fermentation  is  in 
this  way  retarded  by  the  sulphurous  gas,  and 
the  larger  portion  of  the  ferment  is  eliminated, 
and  so  a  certain  portion  of  the  sugar  is  preserved 
in  the  wine  and  the  taste  of  the  fruit,  so  pleas- 
ant to  the  palate. 

Fine,  sweet  white  wines  need  to  be  clarified 
as  completely  as  possible,  to  enable  them  to 
keep.  This  is  an  indispensable  condition. 
Isinglass,  in  the  proportion  of  50  grains 
(1J  pounds)  per  pipe.  This  isinglass  should 
be  first  well  bruised  with  a  wooden  mallet, 
then  cut  very  fine  and  put  to  soak  in  a  small 
quantity  of  the  wine  we  are  about  to  clarify, 
and  which  is  to  be  repeated  until  the  isinglass 
will  absorb  no  more;  then  a  little  hot  water  is 
to  be  added  and  the  whole  rubbed  up  well  and 
strained  through  a  cloth.  To  the  thick  liquid 
we  add  a  quart  or  so  of  wine  and  beat  it  well 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  139 

once  more,  so  as  to  raise  a  froth,  and  then  use 
it  in  the  ordinary  way.  When  the  wine  has 
been  clarified,  it  is  good  practice  to  always  add 
a  small  quantity  of  good  brandy. 

White  wines  can  be  made  with  red  grapes, 
and  good  writers  on  wines  consider  them  the 
best  and  finest;  still  the  bulk  of  the  white 
wines  are  made  with  white  grapes,  unless  the 
champagnes,  in  which  red  or  white  are  used 
indiscriminately. 

The  wines  (vinhos  pcdhetes)  which  are  made 
expressly  with  brief  fermentation  on  the  skins 
of  the  red  grapes,  are  very  pleasant,  because 
they  are  light,  soft  and  delicate  They  are  in- 
termediate between  the  reds  and  the  whites. 
The  making  of  them  presents  no  difficulty. 

After  making  red  wine,  if  the  skins  show 
no  sign  of  alteration,  they  can  be  utilized  along 
with  the  white  grapes  to  make  an  excellent 
Schiller  wine,  of  a  more  or  less  deep  color,  in 
proportion  to  the  length  of  the  fermentation  on 
the  red  skins.  In  this  way  the  wine  is  soon 
made,  being  forwarded  by  the  state  in  which 
the  red  skins  are  when  used;  but  under  all  cir- 
cumstances the  wine  should  be  got  into  casks 
before  fermentation  entirely  ceases,  to  prevent 
its  acquiring  the  harsh  taste  of  the  pomace. 
The  Schillers  ought  to  be  light  and  soft,  and  as 
a  consequence,  should  mature  and  become 
ready  to  be  used  in  a  short  space  of  time. 


BOTTLING. 


The  proprietor  usually  sells  his  wine  in  cask, 
and  merchants  for  the  most  part  export  it  in  the 
same  manner;  nevertheless  there  is  no  doubt 
that  if  the  grower  had  the  means  of  keeping  it 
till  it  was  fit  for  consumption,  or  for  bottling, 
and  he  could  with  economy  do  it  in  his  own 
cellar,  he  would  have  among  other  considera- 
tions the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  its  repu- 
tation rested  on  its  intrinsic  merits.  The  pro- 
ducers of  fine  wines  have  a  great  advantage  in 
selling  them  in  bottle  and  with  their  distinctive 
labels.  On  this  account,  I  think  it  worth  while 
to  say  something  about  bottling,  limited  as  my 
remarks  necessarily  must  be  in  a  compendium 
of  wine  matters,  like  the  present. 

Bottling  is  an  operation  needing  to  be  care- 
fully performed,  for  in  many  cases  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  highest  qualities  of  the  wine  de- 
pends on  it.  Generally  speaking,  fine,  delicate 
wines  do  not  arrive  at  their  maximum  of  perfec- 
tion till  they  have  been  for  some  time  in  bottle. 

Many  are  the  conditions  needful  to  be  attend- 
ed to,  in  order  to  do  this  last  work  in  a  proper 
manner,  such  as  the  state  of  the  wine,  and  of 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  141 

the  weather,  the  materials  employed,  and  the 
method  of  working. 

As  to  the  state  of  the  wine,  it  must  have 
attained  such  a  condition  of  ripeness  as  that  it 
can  get  no  more  good  by  being  left  longer  in 
cask,  a  point  which  varies  not  only  between  one 
wine  and  another,  but  between  the  same  wines; 
that  is  to  say,  between  wines  grown  on  the  same 
vines,  and  on  the  same  soil,  but  of  different  vin- 
tages, and  even  between  casks  of  identical 
wines,  for  it  is  well  known  that  not  only  do  the 
wines  of  some  years  mature  sooner  than  those 
of  others,  but  those  of  the  same  year,  of  the 
same  vintage,  and  of  identical  make,  will  vary, 
due  only  to  their  having  been  put  in  separate 
casks,  and  subjected  to  slight  differences  of 
temperature.  There  is  no  better  means  to  judge 
of  this  than  the  palate  of  a  cellar  man  accustom- 
ed to  treat  them.  Wine  must  never  be  bottled 
unless  it  be  perfectly  still,  clean  and  transpar- 
ent. The  smallest  want  of  any  of  these  condi. 
tions  might  easily  ruin  it,  consequently  it  be- 
comes indispensable  to  clarify  before  bottling. 

From  what  has  just  been  said,  it  is  clear  that 
no  particular  age  can  be  assigned  for  bottling 
wines.  In  all  cases,  it  ought  neither  to  be  so 
old  as  to  have  begun  to  decline,  nor  so  young 
as  not  to  have  shown  its  predominant  qualities. 
Of  the  two  extremes,  the  better  would  be  to 


142  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

bottle  while  it  is  too  young.  Inside  the  bottle, 
where  no  air  can  get  to  it,  it  exists  under  differ- 
ent conditions  from  what  it  had  when  in  the 
cask,  where  its  vapors  could  escape  and  air 
could  enter.  Nevertheless,  reactions  continue 
to  go  on  among '  its  constituent  principles,  the 
results  being  new  products,  as  yet  but  little 
studied,  which  improve  its  quality  and  develop 
its  bouquet — consequently  it  ought  to  have 
abundant  vitality  when  bottled. 

The  best  time  for  bottling  is  perfectly  calm 
and  still  weather,  during  autumn  and  winter,  as 
far  as  the  end  of  March,  when  the  atmosphere 
is  serene  and  cold  and  dry,  with  no  south  wind 
nor  threat  of  thunder,  is  a  good  time  to  bottle 
wines.  The  reason  is  the  same  as  that  for 
racking  under  similar  circumstances. 

Attention  must  be  paid  to  the  quality  of  the 
bottles  and  the  corks.  Eecent  observations 
have  proved  that  the  quality  of  the  glass  of 
which  bottles  are  made  is  not  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference, as  concerns  the  preservation  of  the 
wine.  The  glass  of  which  ordinary  bottles  are 
made  is  a  multiple  silicate  of  alkaline  bases, 
both  earthy  and  metallic;  all  the  more  easily 
fused  and  wrought  in  proportion  as  the  alkaline 
bases  used  are  more  abundant.  Now  the  softer 
the  glass  is,  the  more  readily  it  is  attacked  by 
the  water  and  acids  contained  in  wine;  for  the 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  143 

excess  of  alkali  may  become  dissolved  in  the 
water,  or  more  likely  be  combined  with  the 
acids,  to  the  injury  of  the  composition  of  the 
wine.  In  such  bottles,  green  wines  holding 
much  acid,  cannot  be  kept  long;  and  even  the 
others,  rich  as  they  may  be,  run  the  risk  of  in- 
jury. Consequently  much  care  is  necessary, 
and  as  few  can  verify  for  themselves,  whether 
the  glass  is  good  or  not,  the  safest  course  is  to 
ask  an  expert  in  such  matters. 

When  satisfied  that  the  quality  of  the  bot- 
tles is  what  it  should  be,  the  next  indispensable 
step  is  to  have  them  washed  both  inside  and 
out,  perfectly  clean,  till  not  a  speck  remains, 
nor  any  foreign  body,  or  any  smell  whatever. 
Never,  on  any  pretext  use  shot.  There  is  al- 
ways great  danger  of  some  corns  remaining 
fast  between  the  bottom  and  sides  of  a  bottle, 
and  escaping  notice,  which  will  afterwards  be- 
come dissolved  in  the  wine  and  impart  poison- 
ous properties  to  it,  and  not  alone  from  the 
lead,  but  also  from  the  arsenic  which  usually 
is  to  be  found  in  shot.  Metallic  chains  made 
of  small  rings  on  purpose,  are  certainly  prefer- 
able for  loosening  impurities  in  old  bottles. 

When  the  bottles  have  been  washed  as  de- 
scribed, they  must  be  left  to  drain  till  they  are 
perfectly  dry;  and  for  this  purpose  must  be 
placed  sufficiently  long  with  the  neck  down  in 
some  kind  of  frame  or  rack. 


144  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

For  closing  bottles,  hardly  anything  but 
corks  are  used,  and  it  is  very  essential  that  the 
cork  be  of  good  quality,  fine,  solid  and  elastic, 
and  the  new  corks  well  cut  and  free  from  de- 
fects. Bottling  presents  no  difficulties,  but 
needs  discernment,  cleanliness  and  practical 
experience.  For  the  rest,  the  barrel  about  to 
bottled  should  have  been  placed  at  some  suffi- 
cient height  to  allow  the  wine  to  be  convenient- 
ly drawn  off,  and  as  it  is  customary  to  remove  the 
bung  it  is  always  well  to  fix  over  the  hole  some 
cotton  wool  or  lint,  to  filter  the  air  and  pie- 
vent  any  germs  from  entering  that  might  injure 
the  wine.  The  same  precaution  should  always 
be  taken  Avhen  wine  is  used  from  the  cask,  and 
even  still  more  carefully,  on  account  of  its  lon- 
ger exposure  to  the  air.  In  place  of  the  sim- 
ple cotton  filter  it  is  safer  to  fix  in  the  bung- 
hole  of  the  cask  out  of  which  wine  is  drawn  for 
daily  use,  a  tin  tube  in  shape  of  the  letter  8  in 
the  curved  part  of  which  the  cotton  wool  is  to 
be  put  (or  water)  through  which  the  air  has  to 
pass;  and  while  doing  so,  free  itself  from  germs 
and  dust,  which  it  brought  along  with  it. 

The  bottles  ought  to  be  filled  completely,  and 
when  possible  should  be  corked  with  a  corking 
machine,  and  needle  to  admit  the  escape  of  air. 
When  however  that  cannot  be  done,  the  next 
effort  should  be  directed  to  leaving  the  least 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  145 

possible  air-space  between  the  bottom  of  the 
cork  and  the  top  of  the  liquor.  The  corks 
should  be  well  soaked  either  in  the  wine  to  be 
bottled  or  in  good  brandy.  These  bottling  ma- 
chines are  quite  common  now-a-days,  cost  little, 
are  very  handy,  and  save  time  and  labor  when 
considerable  work  has  to  be  done,  and  prevent 
breakage  as  far  as  possible. 

There  is  a  vast  advantage  in  the  cork's  touch- 
ing the  top  of  the  wine,  to  the  entire  exclusion 
of  air.  This  is  obtained  by  the  use  of  what  is 
called  the  "needle."  It  is  a  small  steel  instru- 
ment with  a  slot,  which  when  placed  against 
the  neck  of  the  bottle,  forms  a  channel  to  ad- 
mit the  escape  of  all  air.  If  the  bottle  be  full, 
the  pressure  of  the  cork  upon  the  fluid  will  force 
as  much  out  as  is  required.  When  the  cork  is 
driven  home,  the  needle  is  drawn  out,  and*  the 
space  it  occupied  becomes  filled  completely  by 
the  cork. 

Supposing  the  bottles  to  have  been  well  cork- 
ed with  good  carefully  made  corks,  the  bottles 
may  remain  for  a  long  time  without  need  of 
either  capsules  or  sealing,  as  is  usually  done 
when  they  pass  off  into  commerce,  provided  the 
cellar  is  dry  and  airy.  Unfortunately,  the 
greater  part  of  the  corks  met  with  in  trade  are 
far  from  being  good,  so  much  so  as  to  render  it 
impossible  to  brand  them  with  hot  iron,  as  is 
7 


146  VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 

customary  in  the  best  wine  countries;  and  in 
this  case  it  is  indispensable  to  cover  the  top  of 
the  bottle  and  cork  with  a  composition  of  rosin, 
Burgundy  pitch,  a  little  yellow  wax  and  some 
coloring  matter,  such  as  red  lead. 

After  bottling,  and  while  the  wine  is  under- 
going its  changes,  it  ought  to  lie  at  rest  for  a 
good  long  time,  if  not  a  whole  year.  During 
this  period  it  is  proper  that  the  bottles  should 
lie  in  a  clean  store,  and  always  on  their  sides  to 
keep  the  corks  moist.  Light  table  wines  of  low 
alcoholic  strength  are  very  liable  to  take 
'  'flour' '  if  the  above  precautions  of  excluding 
air  at  the  corking  be  not  attended  to.  If  the 
wine  after  bottling  forms  a  deposit,  as  often 
happens,  it  will  fall  to  the  low  side,  and  in 
handling  the  bottle,  drawing  the  cork,  and  de- 
canting the  wine,  nice  care  should  be  used. 

From  the  moment  the  wine  has  been  bottled 
with  all  the  precautions  above  indicated,  we 
might  suppose  it  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
air's  action,  and  any  effect  it  could  produce;  still 
changes  go  on  in  it,  which  for  the  most  part 
improve  it,  slow  though  they  may  be.  These 
changes  are  liable  to  be  affected  by  temperature 
of  the  cellar,  by  light,  and  by  being  shaken;  so 
the  cellar  itself  requires  to  be  considered.  Tem- 
perature and  light  are  essential  conditions. 
Wines  that  are  not  very  alcoholic  gain  by  being 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET.  147 

kept  in  a  temperature  at  about  10°' Centigrade,  or 
50°  Fahrenheit,  and  where  the  light  is  diffused 
and  not  very  bright.  Direct  sun-light  is  always 
injurious  to  such  wines,  not  alone  by  unequal 
heating,  but  by  its  action  on  the  coloring  mat- 
ter. Full-bodied  wines  of  much  alcoholic 
strength  improve  best  in  stores  whose  temper- 
ature is  much  higher  than  that  for  table  wines. 
In  a  future  chapter  concerning  the  improvement 
of  wines,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  treat  at  some 
length  on  the  action  of  heat  on  wines. 

Having  now  followed  the  process  of  wine 
making,  as  far  as  pure,  genuine,  alimentary 
wines  are  concerned,  from  the  vintage  to  the 
bottling,  when  they  undergo  their  last  and  final 
stage  of  perfectioning,  I  now  consider  the  first 
part  of  this  work  finished,  not  without  the  con- 
viction of  having  said  all  that  is  necessary  to 
induce  and  animate  our  vineyardists  to  manu- 
facture those  kinds  of  wine  best  suited  to  in- 
crease a  demand  for  our  produce,  and  throw 
life  into  our  commerce.  I  have  by  no  means 
exhausted  the  subject.  It  needs  still  large  de- 
velopment and  special  teachings,  which  may  at 
a  future  day  form  the  object  of  a  more  exten- 
sive treatise;  but  in  writing  this  book,  my  su- 
preme and  only  intention  is  to  place  in  the  hands 
of  out:  viticulturiste  compendious  instructions, 
to  enable  them  to  follow  along  the  way  which, 


148 


VINICULTURE  OF  CLARET. 


in  my  conscience,  I  judge  conducible  to  the 
revival  (regeneration)  of  our  viticulture,  and 
more  chiefly  still  to  that  of  the  commerce  in  our 
wines. 


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